Naruto True Heir of the Shinigami
by LightningForce123
Summary: The Shinigami gave power to humans so that they could keep the balance between life and death however they became corrupt and the gods vowed never to give humans power over life and death again now in another world the Shinigami has chosen a new avatar
1. Chapter 1

Naruto True Heir of the Shinigami

Prologue – A Seal and a Soul

The Kyuubi no Kitsune had appeared out of nowhere and was attacking the village of Konoha with terrific force, the ninja had tried to slow its progress in the surrounding forest but it was truly like the force of nature the legends told it to be. No jutsu affected the massive beast and any shinobi tools that were used were little more than flies to the fox.

In a massive cloud of smoke the boss summon and chief of the toads Gamabunta appeared with the Yondaime on top of his head. The weary ninja cheered and redoubled their efforts throwing everything they had at the monster in order to help their beloved Hokage defeat it.

A freezing chill swept over the battlefield and everything within 5 miles shivered even the Kyuubi itself. The Yondaime shouted something and immediately the cold feeling increased tenfold and the Kyuubi's form began to break down into a dark red mist that shrank and seemed to vanish from the battlefield. The cold feeling began to lessen as well and many of the shinobi began to cheer for the Yondaime that had saved them from certain destruction once again. Even before the cheering ended there was a cry of sorrow as the Yondaime crumpled and began to fall to the ground his eyes becoming dark. He was caught by Gamabunta who laid him on the ground gently before vanishing in a puff of smoke.

Immediately the fallen Hokage was surrounded by ninja all trying to help him and stop his death but it was obvious that nothing could be done. He tried to open his mouth to speak but words failed him as his life slipped away.

Far away from the battlefield a new born baby lay still in the middle of a sealing circle in an isolated room guarded by Anbu that were completely loyal to the Yondaime and his wishes. The baby was oddly silent for a new born but if anybody had been in the room at the time they would have seen something very different than just a baby lying still with a seal inscribed on its belly. A spectre like shade appeared in the room looming over the baby like the reaper of death. It had purple skin and the face of a demon with horns and fangs. Just looking at this ghostly figure would send even the most seasoned ninja's into fits of terror with the aura of death and simple presence it exuded.

However the baby simply stared up at the figure with wide innocent eyes, slowly the tiny arms reached out as if to grab the folds of the spectres cloak. The figure gave what could have been interpreted as a proud smile and it gently touched the end of one of its fingers to the baby's head. A growl came from the fanged mouth s if something deeply displeased it but it quickly stopped and a smile spread across the figures face the finger withdrew.

"**You will be strong" **The figure said in a cold voice **"I have chosen well with you, you will not fail me like the others. You will know suffering and for that I am sorry but in repayment for the pain you will go through because of my actions indirect or not I am allowed to give you something to make up for it a gift if you will." **Black marks began to crawl down the spectres arm until they covered it entirely and the arm moved to the centre of the baby's body.Then the arm lashed forward with incredible speed penetrating the fragile body with ease and continuing on into the babies centre. A flash of white light swept through the room along with a silent shockwave that blew out the candles that were lit and made all the dust in the room fly into the air.

The light quickly faded away revealing the spectre still standing over the baby who was glowing a bright white that was so bright it made him look like a miniature sun.

"**Oh yes"** the spectre chuckled appreciatively before fading away **"You will be powerful indeed my heir."**

The baby known as Naruto Uzumaki lay still as the light faded from his body and the dust once again settled on the floor. He lay peacefully in his crib not knowing that within the few hours he had been born he had lost his mother and father had a demon sealed inside of him and been visited by a god.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1 – Meeting of the Gods

Kami was in a foul mood which was definitely unusual behaviour for the most powerful of all the gods save the Shinigami and she was not happy with him at the minute. She stormed down a white hallway and taking a deep breath waved open a huge set of double doors and walked into an enormous room that was completely empty apart from a large round table that had seats surrounding it. All the chairs were elaborately decorated and had the symbols of the god they belonged to worked into them somehow. Kami's was slightly taller than the others signifying her position as the most powerful god and ruler of life. The other chairs belonged to various other gods which were too numerous to name. Kami sat down and waved her hand again mentally summoning all of the gods to a meeting and sat back in her chair fighting the urge to massage her temples with her fingers. It wasn't a gesture befitting a god but the headache she was currently experiencing was nearing astronomical proportions, the entire timeline of two of the worlds she governed had shifted immensely in the last few minutes and when she had tracked down the source of this shift she had found that her equal and opposite the Shinigami had gone against the rules that had been set down and given a small child the powers of at least a demi god that could easily grow into powers equalling a full god.

"**Giving a child powers over the dead what foolishness"** she muttered her melodious voice less musical than usual as it was tinged with anger. She waited as her fellow gods appeared around the table one by one patiently waiting for the meeting to begin and the reason for them being called to be explained.

A full ten minutes later and most of the gods were becoming impatient, the only one left who hadn't arrived was the Shinigami and they normally would have started without him because he never seemed to care about anything other than collecting souls anyway. But Kami had told them to wait which meant that this meeting was about the Shinigami and that meant that something had happened that would affect a lot of things to come.

Finally with no noise at all the Shinigami faded into view he walked over to his chair which was as tall as Kami's but much plainer with none of the decorations or elaborate additions that the others had. Before he sat down his face and body morphed changing from the demonic fanged and horned face that he wore before into the face belonging to an aristocrat he had silky black hair which high cheekbones and immaculate clothing, only his eyes which shone with wisdom and age revealed who he really was.

"**Glad you can finally join us"** Kami said irritably **"What on earth took so long."**

The Shinigami gave a small shrug **"I had some business to attend to as you probably already know, I thought that it wouldn't matter if I arrived a little late as mostly you carry on the meetings without me."  
**

"**Only because we all know that you care for nothing other than collecting souls for your collection" **said the moon god Tsukiyomi with a hint of disgust at the death god's hobby.

He merely smiled at her before turning his attention back to the woman opposite him that was glaring at him he motioned for her to start.

"**What were you thinking?" **She asked managing to keep her voice reasonably calm **"What were you thinking giving the powers of a Shinigami to a child, we agreed that unless we had a unanimous vote to allow it then everybody was banned from giving a mortal those types of powers again. Look at what happened the last time, they became corrupted with power and now one seeks to trespass upon the heavens themselves. I would have thought you would have more sense than to start that nightmare all over again. "**

There was instant uproar as she finished speaking, every god was shouting at the Shinigami who simply raised an eyebrow at them and waited for them to stop. Arguments broke out among them on what the punishment should be and what they could be, some wanted him removed from his position but others argued that nobody else would be able to handle his job. This led to more arguing as other commented on how he obviously hadn't done his job well at all. This brought the argument back to why he broke the rules and what should be done.

Seeing how things were going nowhere the Shinigami turned his cold gaze to Kami to see if she was going to put an end to this foolishness but she seemed content to sit and glare at him. He almost sighed at the childishness she and the rest of the gods were displaying. It was no wonder the worlds they governed went to hell so often. He was about to interrupt when he heard a large number of the stronger gods finally agree in something which was that he would have some of his power and freedom forcibly removed. This arrogance quickly sent him into a cold fury. He stood up rising like a wraith from hell with a black aura growing around him.

"**SIT DOWN!" **He seethed angrily **"I cannot believe your arrogance; you presume that you lesser gods can force me to do anything. I have been silent for far too long if you have forgotten my power or my origins." **His black aura was released with vengeance forcing the weaker gods known as third tier gods to the floor under the immense pressure it gave off. The stronger gods known as second tier were forced to sit down and they began to sweat under the gaze of the angry god. They had forgotten that as he was Kami's equal he was also a first tier god matched only by Kami in strength.

"**Enough" **Kami said tiredly **"You've proved your point now answer my question. Why have you broken our strictest rule and reintroduced that forbidden power into the world again. Even though you are my equal you must realise that there must be punishment for this betrayal."**

"**Yes I have given a mortal the powers of a Shinigami." **The death god said mildly having calmed down quickly from his fury** "But I cannot be punished for it."**

"**Such arrogance" **The god known as Susanoo shouted followed quickly by his sisters Amaterasu and Tsukiyomi. **"You have overstepped your authority death god by ignoring the pact that we made to never trespass onto someone else's domain or authority. You did this when you did this behind our backs."** The other gods were nodding their heads but Kami continued to stare at the Shinigami who looked totally unconcerned.

"**Then why haven't the effects already started?"** He stated looking around at the suddenly stunned gods. **"You surely didn't forget that the contract we made was automatic, if I had broken the laws that we set down then I would have already been struck down by its combined magic. As this is obviously not the case then it begs the question of why haven't I."**

"**I assume you will enlighten us" **Kami said dryly managing to hide her shock and embarrassment at having forgotten the terms of the contract they had made. She mentally cursed the god that she thought of as an annoying older brother as he sat staring at her a knowing look in his eyes that told her that while she had fooled the other gods with her quick recovery he knew that she had forgotten the contract as well. Amusement shone in his eyes and she fought the urge to jump over the table and throttle him. Her brother had been so aloof and distant that she had almost forgotten his sharp mind and genius; it wasn't for nothing that most people referred to any deals made with him as deals with a devil.

The Shinigami rose again from his chair and began to pace around the table looking at every god individually.

"**I did this because it had to be done" **he said firmly **"You have referred to the first world we made to as the worst mistake we have ever made but this world is going the same way. Corruption is rampant all over the world and all your efforts to fix it have backfired. I bided my time making sure none of you suspected my motives while quietly making my preparations to create my perfect heir as well as a perfect representative for us in the real world. The timing was perfect when the Kyuubi was forced to attack Konoha and I barely needed to interfere in the real world at all. The boy I gave the powers too is truly worthy of it I have looked into his future and he will not turn out like the others. If you give him your support then he will bring peace to those that suffer under the corrupt leaders that are in charge."**

"**Why should we support him?" **Jashin demanded** "Why should we give our support to your avatar."**

"**We should just get rid of him!" **Susanoo sneered **"Before his power has time to grow."**

The Shinigami shot to his feet rage his dark aura once again pulsing around him **"Make one move against him Susanoo and I promise you your name will vanish from human memory faster than you could believe."**

"**What can you do about it" **Tsukiyomi spoke up defending her brother **"You only have dominion and jurisdiction over that which is dead or involves death. The boy is still among the living, no matter what loophole you exploited to give him his powers he is now under our jurisdiction as the gods of the living."**

"**Not anymore" **The Shinigami said smirking; Kami looked at him with narrowed eyes. The others may not have noticed it but when he had said those words she had felt a pull or a tug that signalled something. She quietly tried to reach the boy but found him masked by a ghostly aura that she recognised well. Damn he was telling the truth but how was he getting around them like this.

She pondered this question while the others argued and shouted at her still smirking brother it warmed her heart that he was back to his old self again even if he was technically her opponent in this particular political game. It had hurt her more than she would ever admit when he had become more distant and withdrawn from the dealings of the living world. He hadn't even spoken up when they had started giving humans powers again some of which technically overstepped their authority...Wait that was it. She looked up from her pondering with a new respect for her dark brother. He had certainly outsmarted them in this match.

"**Quiet!" **She shouted bringing instant silence to every person in the room **"Stop acting like children and sit down, I have figured what my brother has done and it is perfectly acceptable to our rules." **She gave a deprecating laugh **"He was right when he said earlier that he has done nothing, we did all the work for him."**

"**Stop speaking in riddles" **Jashin groaned angrily **"Will someone just tell us plainly what he has done."**

"**Fine" **The Shinigami said with a small smile **"You may remember that over the last few centuries on this earth you all have been very generous with your gifts to your followers or avatars. Without thought or care you gave them powers that far outstripped your jurisdiction trying to make your followers more powerful than any others. While doing this you may remember that most if not all of you gave them powers that crossed my jurisdiction. You may remember that none of you asked for my permission before you gifted powers that directly interfered with me."** He looked around at the members that were now looking pale and worried.

"**You Jashin have given the powers of immortality to your followers that crosses into my jurisdiction because it interferes with their time of death. Everything has to die and anything that doesn't has to be blessed by me first. As soon as you gave powers that you weren't authorised too you owed me a debt by our laws that I could call in at any time without even telling you."**

"**So" **Amaterasu said slowly **"Every single person who gave a gift to mortal that should have been okayed by you first owes you a debt that lets you make decisions for them."**

"**Almost"** the Shinigami's smile was now predatory** "But you don't owe me for every gift you gave you owe me for every person that has had that gift."**

Immediately the gods that had given gifts to major clans that should have been taken before the Shinigami first went white and one fell of his chair. If every single person that had their gift meant a debt then they must owe the Shinigami hundreds of debts.

"**Surely not all of us owe you" **Tsukiyomi said nervously shrinking at the thought of the dark spectre that she had poked fun at constantly for the last decades being in complete command of the gods.

"**Not all of you" **Shinigami admitted **"Just all you second tier gods and half the third tier, Kami is the only higher ranked god that now owes me nothing as I used up the two debts she owed me to give the boy powers and then place him under my protection."**

"**Why does Kami only owe you two?" **Tsukiyomi pouted childishly making many of the gods chuckle.

"**Because there have only been two Rinnegan users at this moment in time which means only two debts."**

"**Hey that's not fair there's only one Sharingan user that is immortal why do we owe you so many?"**

The Shinigami's face darkened considerably **"That man is an abomination and so is the clan, why you made a clan that would kill their best friends and pluck out each other's eyeballs to gain power is something I will never understand but it doesn't matter. The reason is that the potential for the immortality is in every Uchiha, it doesn't matter if they haven't actually activated it yet."**

"**That's a pretty thin argument if you ask me" **Tsukiyomi muttered under her breath before being silenced with a glare from Kami who sighed and stood up.

"**So basically you distanced yourself from us so we'd think you no longer cared about what we did then you gathered debts from everyone who didn't ask your permission before giving gifts that interfered with death, am I correct so far?" **Kami asked her brother signalling to everyone else that they were no longer welcome in this discussion; it was now between the two most powerful gods.

"**Yes"** the Shinigami replied calmly **"But you only scratched the surface of my full plan truthfully"**

Kami restrained herself from rolling her eyes at the casual arrogance of her brother **"Fine" **she bit out **"What is your full plan?"**

"**Simple I wanted to find a powerful and worthy soul that would not abuse the power that I would give him, and then I would use the debts to make him the first living shingami, the fact that such a soul is also a jinchuuriki and the son of one of the strongest ninja ever is just a bonus."**

"**You assure me that you have everything well planned out then?" **Kami asked looking at him piercingly **"And if anything goes wrong you will take full responsibility"**

"**Yes" **The Shinigami answered confidently **"Leave young Uzumaki to me, watch him all you want but do not interfere in any way. Soon you will see why I chose him to be my heir and vassal on earth."**

The Gods started to vanish one by one most of them shaking their heads in disapproval or resignation, Kami waited until they had all gone except for her brother before vanishing herself leaving the Shinigami alone. He waved his hand creating an image in mid air of a sleeping baby with blond hair and blue eyes with three whisker like marks on both cheeks.

"**I shall be watching you Naruto Uzumaki don't let me down." **With those final words the Shinigami vanished fading away into nothing.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2 - 10 Years Later

Sarutobi Hiruzen the Sandaime of Konoha listened wearily to another Anbu's report on the daily life of Konoha's jinchuuriki Naruto Uzumaki. He listened as the Anbu spoke of the hatred and the KI the way he was kicked out of every shop and store, the villagers and few ninja that would actually attack him or try and throw things at him. Sarutobi listened and felt like crying at the utter failure his law had had in trying to improve the life of one Naruto Uzumaki. He dismissed the Anbu and took out his crystal ball to make sure that Naruto would be safe for the night. The ball glowed then turned bright white, he stared at it confused for a minute before he saw something that almost made his heart stop. Something bright red was slowly filling the surface of the crystal ball.

Less than 10 seconds later he had Anbu scattering all over the village looking for his surrogate grandson. He himself was dressed in his war uniform and was almost leaking KI, he swore too himself that if Naruto was dead then everybody who helped do it would join him.

10 Minutes Earlier

Naruto ran faster than he ever had before knowing that if he was caught then he was going to die. Being chased and attacked wasn't anything new to him, after all it had been happening for the last eight years but this time they weren't out for satisfaction they were out for blood.

He was sprinting down the main street of Konoha travelling much faster than he usually could; lately he had been feeling strange when people would attack him and sometimes something invisible would block projectiles that were about to hit him. The whispers in his mind and the flashes of two strange figures accompanied these bursts. Now it seemed that something had seemed to gather behind him propelling him forward.

"_Duck now!"_

He instinctively ducked and literally felt the shuriken that had been thrown at him touch his hair.

"_Go left"_

He changed direction instantly darting down a nearby alley and avoiding the other half of the mob that had been waiting to ambush him as he rounded the next corner. He had been listening to these whispers ever since they had first appeared and they had never let him down.

One of the two mostly spoke when he was feeling very emotional either calming him or soothing him. That one had a voice that was as calming as watching a still pond or small river, her words flowed softly and melodiously. When her anger was peaked however visions of storms often appeared in his mind. The other never spoke in full sentences but rather communicated with single words, thoughts or images. He could grasp what she wanted to say with just one word. She mostly helped him during his escapes as she always knew where his pursuers were. He trusted her with his life which was why he was not worried when the alley was blocked off by an enormous stone wall that separated one street from another.

He heard jeers from behind him as the mob saw that their prey was trapped, still he kept on running full pelt at the wall feeling the wind begin to gather behind him.

"_Jump"_

He leapt jumping over the 10 foot wall like it was nothing; he used his hand to propel himself further over the wall and landed lightly on the other side. He looked down and around him and saw something shimmering around him as he stood there. It moulded around him and was barely visible to him but he knew it was there. Sometimes it was a colourless blur as it whipped around him.

He placed the palm of his hand against the concrete wall and watched as it disintegrated at his touch the thing surrounding him shredding it to pieces.

"The Wind?" he whispered in awe as the voice in his head grew louder as it repeated something over and over that he couldn't quite seem to hear. It was like trying to find something in the middle of a deep mist. The word was on the tip of his tongue when the other voice chipped in and shouted a warning.

He leapt up narrowly avoiding the hands that had shot up from the earth trying to catch his feet. His jump had been strengthened by the wind meaning he landed on the nearest roof, only to jump again to avoid a wave of projectiles that were thrown at him haphazardly. He ducked slid and dodged sometimes in mid air to avoid the kunai and shuriken. Any that looked to be on target were thrown off their trajectory by the wind which snapped at them like a whip.

Eventually he found himself being herded into the far corner of the village far away from any prying eyes. The only noise was that of the small river that ran through the entire of Konoha exiting through the abandoned district that was where the Kyuubi had struck. Nothing grew there anymore leaving only a path of death that reminded everyone of the Kyuubi's evil.

A shout from above and from his mind alerted him to the enormous fireball that had just been released at him from the top of the outer wall. Simultaneously other fireballs were released from all around him making escape impossible. He fell towards the river with fire shooting at him from every direction. He covered his face with his arms and waited for the impact, this time the wind armour would be more of a hindrance than a help as it would only strengthen the flames.

He waited for the pain and was surprised when it didn't come; he felt his feet touch solid ground and quickly looked around. What he saw made him stumble backwards in shock.

The river had risen around him as it flowed allowing him to stand on it's earthy bed as it formed a huge bubble around him that had blocked every fireball leaving only faint traces of steam.

This time the other voice came forward coaxing him towards the name that still eluded him, it was once again on the tip of his tongue when the loud sounds of something crackling broke his concentration and he whirled around the world seeming to slow to a crawl. He could actually see the source of the noise now. The man was wearing a mask that covered his entire face and his clothes were all black and had no distinguishing attributes. His eyes showed however and they burned with hatred and a flicker of madness.

Naruto's blood ran cold as he realised what the clothing and mask meant, the man was not planning on beating him he was planning on killing him without any evidence being left behind to pin the crime on him.

His panic increased and he closed his eyes begging for somebody to help him, no matter what he tried to convince himself sometimes he had never wanted to die.

A massive pulse of the strange energy he sometimes felt exploded out of him and left him feeling lighter in some way. He waited for the pain that he was sure was about to come and tried to prepare himself for death. He had seen the visible chakra in the man's hand and he knew instinctively that if that hit him he would die.

The pain didn't come however so he slowly opened his eyes to see what he was sure would be the assassin glaring at him. Instead he saw the assassin standing frozen at the same distance away from him that he had been at least 30 seconds ago.

One of the voices started whispering again and the vague shape of a humanoid shadow appeared next to the assassin shimmered as the voice echoed loudly and pleadingly. It was one word that the figure was repeating again and again but he just couldn't hear properly.

It suddenly seemed extremely important that he hear that name clearly so he fought the fear that was rising within him fiercely focusing all of his attention on the voice which grew clearer and clearer even as the surrounding area faded into a grey dull colour and started to vanish at the edges of his vision.

S... The edges of his vision frayed and began to go out of focus

Su... Everything started to lose its colour and go into a dull grey

Sui... He could no longer see faces of the people surrounding him

Suij.. It was like he had tunnel vision on the area where the assassin and figure were standing

Suiji. The assassin vanished and the figure came fully into focus. Darkness began to consume him and he felt himself teetering on the edge of something huge

SUIJIN He could almost feel the drop below him now, all he had to do was say the name and he would fall and everything he knew and believed would change. It would affect the rest of his life vastly and permanently. For one instant he shied away from this option and almost turned away forfeiting this part of him forever leaving himself incomplete.

Then he looked at the newly revealed woman that had been a part of him for as long as he could remember. The second voice that he now connected with the wind had only started talking to him recently and could still only get through with monosyllables. But Suijin, she had been with him since he was a child helping him when the villagers nearly tore him apart with their cruelty. She had been his rock first being his mother, then his older sister and now his protector. How could he deny her?

"Suijin" He whispered

He fell forwards the darkness rushing up to met him as his vision faded. The only thing that he could now hear was Suijin's voice along with the whistling sound he knew was the other voice that he couldn't fully hear yet.

"_Thank you"_

Two words were all that she said but the feelings of happiness and thankfulness almost overwhelmed him as he continued to fall faster and faster. He could feel something heavy and clumsy being pulled out of him as if it couldn't follow him where he was falling too. He forced his eyes down and stared at the numerous lines of dark blue energy streaming out of his body. They grew larger and larger as if an entire body was being fully forced out of him at some times the energy was so thick that he thought it was trying to pull him out of the fall. As the energy seemed to begin to run out pain ran through him in waves, it was beyond anything he had ever felt before or ever wanted to experience again. It was as if he was feeling every cell in his body die one by one.

The pain increased to the point that he couldn't even see through it or think of anything else. There was nothing but pain and agony, he was drowning in it unable to free himself. He could now appreciate something he had heard when visiting the Hokage about people going mad from too much pain and a certain threshold that if they passed that point then their minds never recovered. At the time he had thought that they must have been exaggerating because of his own experiences with pain, now however he understood a little too well the phrase mind shattering pain.

Already his mind was splitting from the strain and he could barely manage conscious thought anymore. It would be so easy to just give up and hide away from the unbearable agony, let his mind fall and take away the pain. He was almost at that point when for some reason his mind dredged up every memory he had of the people of Konoha mistreating him and telling him he should die and leave them in peace.

Strangely enough the memories of the beatings and death threats only served to strengthen his resolve. The resentment he had bottled up all of his life exploded outwards forcing the pain back and away from him. He would not under any circumstances allow them to win, he was a survivor and he was fucking going to show them that strength right now.

There was an enormous explosion shook him to his core. Something tore out of his back and shot back up to the surface taking with it the pain and heaviness.

Immediately the darkness melted away as did the feeling of falling, he was suddenly standing on a sandy beach with a clear blue sea shifting to his right.

"It's nice to finally meet you face to face Naruto. I am sorry about the pain you just had to endure but I was unaware that the extraction would prove so difficult."A familiar voice came from behind him. He turned and saw what must be one of the most beautiful women he had ever laid eyes on. She was wearing a blue dress that hugged her curves perfectly and her bright green eyes contrasted well with her long blue hair that framed her face. She wore no shoes and her skin looked like it was glowing in the sun, she had no blemishes and looked like a goddess or something out of a fairytale.

"You're beautiful" he gasped then blushed red as she laughed softly her eyes gleaming with mirth.

"Why thank you"she said moving closer to him and kneeling down in front of him and looking deep into his eyes as if searching for something. He stepped back quickly although every instinct he had was telling him to trust her. He wanted proof that this wasn't some elaborate illusion before he would let his guard down. As if reading his mind she answered his unspoken question. 

"Very well then I shall give you proof. I have been with you since you were born but the first time you heard my voice was when you were just three years old. You had just been kicked out of the orphanage after being beaten by the landlady; you were lying in the gutter crying. I calmed you down by singing to you and the first thing I said afterwards was."

"I shall use all my power to make sure you will never be hurt again." Naruto finished softly with a tear rolling down his cheek. "Thank you, without your voice I would have gone insane a long time ago."

She smiled her brilliant smile at him and walked towards him giving him a hug that was filled with love and devotion.

"I failed in my pledge" she whispered to him sorrowfully "You have been hurt numerous times and I have been powerless to stop it. And now you are here because of my final failure, the attack from the assassin will kill you if it connects and I failed to notice it because of my selfish need for you to know my name."

"Suijin" he whispered to her tightening his hug "You have nothing to be sorry for. I don't know what you are but I do know that you have saved me in the way I truly needed. You saved me from my loneliness and let me know that somebody cared about me. And that is something that I may never manage to repay you for."

Suijin didn't show it but she was deeply affected by his words. She had had feelings for him that far surpassed the usual bond that usually happened between her kind and their hosts. She had subconsciously taken over as Naruto's mother or protector since the first time she had been able to reach him.

"Thank you Naruto."__She said to him before pulling herself together. "Now as you may have figured out you are not like the other people in your village. In fact you are the only person left in the Elemental Countries that has these abilities. You see the abilities you possess are ones that can to a certain extent control life and death. They are an extension of the true Shinigami's powers and can only be given by him personally unless the power has been given to a world as a whole. I am a Zanpakuto spirit which is the weapon that all Shinigami use to fight with. Zanpakuto are sentient spirits that are a part of their wielders soul and contain enormous power that they can give to their wielders in a time of crisis as long as they have a strong connection and bond like we do."

"So" Naruto started struggling for the right words "Does that mean that you came from me, my soul and powers." He wasn't sure if he liked that thought.

Suijin shook her head "All other Zanpakuto are like that, they are a piece of their wielders soul made sentient and given control over their wielders power. I'm different, I had a life before I became a Zanpakuto this has made some severe changes in our relationship but we don't have to go into that now. All you need to know is that I was in a lot of trouble and the Shinigami saved me by bonding me to you as your Zanpakuto."__Naruto looked up as he heard that did that mean that Suijin was forced to be bonded with him and really didn't want to. Maybe she already had a family before she got stuck with him and was just acting like she was happy.

"I'm sorry you got stuck with me Suijin" He said sadly "I'm sure there is a way that you can get your life back again before you were attached to me."

Suijin looked shocked and sad but that quickly turned to a face of understanding, she crouched down until her face was level with Naruto's before saying in a firm tone that couldn't be ignored.

"Naruto if you say something as stupid as that again I promise I will fill your head with sea water until you turn old and grey have you got that? I wouldn't change what happened for anything, my life before this wasn't good and I don't have any regrets about being bonded to you. I love you like a son Naruto and I am perfectly happy to stay here bonded with you until the end of time."

Naruto collapsed into Suijin's arms with relief; he wormed his way into Suijin's warm embrace and stayed there for a few minutes soaking in the unfamiliar feeling of hugging someone lovingly instead of any contact he received being a punch or slap in anger.

After a while Suijin withdrew with a reluctant sigh "I'm sorry Naruto but there is not enough time for us to talk about everything now, time moves slower in this place but I'm not strong enough by myself to slow it enough for you to spend a great length of time here. You need to unlock your powers and leave before the assassin reaches you and we don't have a lot of time."

"Okay" Naruto replied drying his damp eyes quickly before looking up with a determined look on his face. "Tell me what to do."

Suijin smiled and pointed at the ocean that stretched out as far as the eye could see "On the ocean floor there are numerous swords stuck into the earth. To start being able to draw upon my power in large quantities you have to find the sword that embodies my power. All of the others are fakes nothing but weak imitations but they look exactly the same. You need to find the right sword before the assassin's attack reaches you or else we will all die. Do you understand?"

Naruto didn't even bother replying instead giving a quick nod before sprinting into the water and diving down to the ocean floor. Suijin created an hourglass out of water to show the amount of time they had left until the assassin struck and Naruto would be killed.

Naruto approached the first sword he came too and tried to pull it from the sea bed, the task proved nearly impossible due to the high water pressure around him and his lack of air. He tried for about 30 seconds before he was forced to return to the surface to breathe.

"Naruto!" Suijin shouted from the beach "You don't have the time to try and pull out random swords, you have to feel for the right sword with your mind not your eyes."

Naruto nodded not really understanding what she was trying to tell him but not having the time to try and get a more clear answer from her. The hourglass that Suijin had made was already half empty and he was in no way ready to roll over and die just yet.

He dived down to the bottom of the sea once again and started to pull on a random sword again but found that just like before the sword stayed firmly wedged in the sea bed. He moved on to another sword and tried to pull it out before he was forced to resurface again. He looked up at the hourglass and swore as he saw the speed at which his time was decreasing.

"You do realise that inside your mindscape you don't actually need air right?" Suijin's voice said from right behind him making him yell with shock and sink under the surface of the water again. Suijin stood on top of the water laughing as he resurfaced glaring at her spitting water out of his mouth.

"Thanks a bunch Suijin" he said sourly "I don't really have the time to drown at the minute so could you please not do that again."

"You wouldn't drown" Suijin said obviously amused "This is your mindscape the only limits you have here are the ones that you or I create and the only limit I've created is that you cannot find my sword without first looking for it."

"What the hell does that mean" Naruto demanded his patience vanishing as fast as his time was "I cannot find the sword until I look what kind of nonsense is that?"

"The very useful kind, now get back down there before you end up wasting all the time we have left." She sent a wave of water at him that sent him all the way down to the bottom, she chuckled at the glare that he sent her on the way down but quickly sobered up when she saw that 2/3 of the time they had left had now expired. Naruto had to find and connect to the source of her power within him so that she could channel enough power through him to stop the attacks. While Naruto knew about the assassin that was charging at him from the front he didn't know about the three others that were attacking him from behind. To stop all of them she needed to manifest and to do that she needed Naruto to have a strong connection to her powers so she could use him as a conduit for her power.

Truthfully there wasn't any need for Naruto to go through this test in order to gain control over her power if they had had more time he could have simply spent more time in his mindscape meditating in order to find the connection but there was no time for that now. So she had set him a Zanpakuto's test that if passed could increase the level of resonation between the two souls by a large amount but if failed the consequences were usually fatal.

"Come on Naruto" she urged "Remember what I said, feel for the connection between us with your mind not your eyes."

Down at the bottom of his mindscapes ocean that was exactly what Naruto was trying to do, after being forcibly pushed back down to the ocean floor he had started to think about what Suijin had said more carefully. Obviously he couldn't find the right sword by simply trying every random sword he came across there were hundreds of them and it would take days to try them all let alone having to do it in the few minutes he had. Also Suijin had said that this was a test meaning that there must be some reason behind it a hidden meaning. It would be a very bad test certainly not worthy of Suijin who was anything but simple. There had to be a trick to it.

He closed his eyes trying to forget about the fact that he was wasting precious time and started to concentrate blocking out everything except the task at hand. The bubbling around him quietened and eventually vanished leaving him in complete darkness with no sound to distract him or help him.

Light flared behind his eyes and started to separate into colours, numerous colourless ribbons started to drift around him some falling across his face and head. He raised his hand and touched the ribbon trying to feel what it felt like. As soon as his hand touched it however the ribbon dissolved along with every other ribbon filling the area with blank spiritual energy that dampened his ability to sense spiritual energy.

He growled and sank deeper into his trance mentally pushing at the mist like spiritual energy that continued to try and impede his task by surrounding him and deadening his senses. He lashed out angrily hating the smothering feeling the mist gave him. For a split second he could feel things clearly and like a breath of fresh air he got a blast of Suijin's presence and power like a wave upon a cliff.

As soon as he felt it the feeling was gone covered in a fully recovered and even thicker mist, Naruto smirked keeping his eyes closed. He might have been immediately cut off but he had managed to catch a glimpse of what he was looking for and that one brief glimpse was enough. Now he would be able to locate Suijin's power no matter how many obstacles were put in his way.

He gathered his energy clumsily but quickly instinctively grasping the ability to use spiritual energy from the times that the energy had flowed through him to heal his wounds and sustain his body. It was just like controlling chakra except instead of having to grasp a harsh chaotic force and bring it to order you had to merge with a calm and malleable energy and direct it to do the task that you want it to.

With that thought in mind he called upon every last drop of spiritual energy he had and compressed it inside himself forcing his spiritual senses to increase rapidly. The numerous colourless ribbons that had clouded his view before were now little more than thin wisps of vapour that were barely more than an annoyance with his improved senses. He quickly found a glimpse of Suijin's sealed power and tried to follow it back to the source only to find that it led to nowhere it simply vanished at a random point in the sea. At the same time he picked up on a different strand of Suijin's power and followed that until it vanished at another random point.

"I have no time for this" he growled angrily sensing that Suijin's life-force was starting to slip away, her immense release of spiritual energy was starting to slow and get smaller. If she ran out of energy at this point then she would vanish forever. He could feel panic starting to rise within making it hard to think straight. He knew that there was an answer as to why Suijin's sealed reiatsu seemed to be everywhere in the damned ocean but he was to worried to think it through. All he could think about as Suijin lying on top of the water as the last of her life energy spilled from her body into the clear ocean merging her with the very substance that was the source of her power. That thought struck a cord and repeated in his mind 'The source of her power'. It hit him like one of Sakura Haruno's punches to the head. "THAT'S IT!" he crowed racing back to the top of the water and standing on top of it effortlessly.

He closed his eyes and reached out with his spirit energy separating it from a heavy blanket like shape into numerous threads that raced out and away from him and connected to every single one of Suijin's ribbon fragments. If someone who could see spiritual energy had been watching they would have seen a millions of white spiritual threads connecting to millions of blue threads that made up the entire of the ocean. It was like a gigantic spider web of coloured threads all interconnected with only one central point who was currently standing on top of the sea of reiatsu looking at the sight below him in awe and determination.

With an almost bestial roar Naruto pulled every single one of the spiritual threads to him in an instant focusing them all into his hand where they began to merge together seamlessly slowly turning into a corporeal form. In less than 5 seconds Naruto was holding the hilt of a sword and the blade was slowly starting to form. Sweat poured down his face as he concentrated every ounce of his energy and willpower on forcing the tiny spirit ribbons too unite. The blade ever so slowly began to grow until it was almost taller than Naruto. The process stalled at the very end and for a second it looked as if the blade was about to break apart until finally Naruto felt the unmistakable feeling of Suijin's reiatsu joining with his and bonding. The sword's tip formed instantly and the blade exploded with power blasting Naruto into the air and taking with it the last of his strength. Darkness immediately took the exhausted blond as he plummeted head first towards the now raging sea.

Before he smashed into the crashing waves he was caught by a blue blur and placed gently on the smooth warm sand of the large beach far away from the stormy seas. Suijin stood over the sleeping blond with a look of intense pride on her face, the stab wound in her stomach was gone as were the bloody clothes. In her right hand she held a long katana which had a dark blue handle and a blade which held a tinge of light blue. She opened her mouth to say something but was stopped by a gust of wind which blew her long hair into her face. She brushed it out of her eyes irritably and glared at the sky.

"Yes I know I'm going right now honestly." She huffed before vanishing in a flash of light.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 3 – Payback and Warnings

In real time the Shinobi surrounding the area looked on in glee as the man they had chosen to deliver the finishing blow sank his deadly attack into the Kyuubi brats chest hopefully disintegrating his heart and killing him once and for all. They were all completely unprepared for the tidal wave of blue energy that exploded from the young child's body and bore down on the ninja making them feel like gravity had increased 10 fold. All of them fell to the ground sweat pouring down their faces as they struggled to breathe.

The assassin was stronger than his companions so he managed to stay standing but he was pushed back by the strength of the energy that was pouring out of the boy he had attacked. The energy eventually condensed and shrank transforming into the imposing form of Suijin who glared at the people that were trying to kill Naruto.

She restrained her crushing spiritual pressure allowing the ninja to get back to their feet, they stumbled to their feet staring fearfully at the goddess that was Suijin.

"Who the hell are you?" one of the bolder ninja demanded "Or should I say what the hell are you?"

Suijin ignored him and bent down over Naruto's limp body, she placed her palms on the gaping wound that had been left by the chakra attack of the masked assassin and concentrated. Blue energy left her hands and swirled around the wound knitting the skin back together and closing the wound so that no trace of it ever existing was left.

"What! Why are you helping the demon?" The bolder one shouted running towards her to stop her from saving the demon containers life. He was met by Suijin foot which crashed into his stomach knocking him to floor.

"You bitch" he spat "I bet your another fucking demon lover like that old fool Hokage did he hire you to protect that freak or something."

Suijin had finished healing Naruto and was now stalking towards the downed ninja with killing intent clearly visible in her eyes. The man began to scramble backwards trying to get away from the furious woman.

"Now wait a minute" he stuttered "You can't do anything to me, the Hokage wouldn't give you permission to attack any citizen of Konoha no matter what we do to the brat."

"You are correct" Suijin said emotionlessly "The Hokage would never allow anyone to kill villagers or ninja in defence of Naruto but I never said that I was hired by that pathetic excuse for a leader."

The man's expression which had grown relieved and slightly smug at the start of her statement now went to full blown panic. He was about to scream but was prevented by an unknown force which gripped his throat and squeezed hard making him unable to do anything but choke.

"You asked earlier who and what I was" Suijin said still in a deathly calm voice "I shall now answer you, I am called Suijin Naruto's guide and protector, that in turn makes me your executioner." She vanished reappearing a split second later right in front of the man. In less than a second her sword flashed and the man's head left his body and hit the ground.

The rest of the ninja were frozen disbelieving at what had just happened their group had attacked Naruto many times before and never had they been punished for it not even a demotion let alone death. For the first time many began regretting their constant attacks on the boy and wished they had just ignored him like many others did, they cringed as Suijin turned around blood still dripping from her sword her face was dark and stormy and held the absolute certainty of death.

"I'm afraid I don't have much time to deal with you all, Naruto will be awake soon and I would rather not shatter his remaining innocence with the memories of what I'm going to do to you." She started to move towards the closest ninja who fell down on his knees.

"Mercy" he begged "Please have mercy."

"Mercy" Suijin repeated harshly stopping her relentless advance "I used to be so full of mercy and forgiveness. I would literally forgive anyone any sin, it felt like my very purpose was to cleanse and heal a person's mistakes, that was before I saw the cruelty and evil of man. From then on I changed, I will defend heal and protect any innocent or injured party but I will treat my enemies or those that oppose my precious people to nothing but pain and death. Just as water gives life and joy but also can be harsh and cruel so shall I kill those that hurt those that I love."

The man managed to scramble to his feet and started to run desperate to get away from the avenging angel behind him. His example was quickly mirrored by the other would be killers who quickly turned and started to run away.

Suijin sneered at the fleeing men in disgust "Cowards" she muttered sticking her sword in the ground and raising her arms up in the air hands outstretched in the direction of the fleeing men. Lightning began to spark at her fingertips as she aimed at her target. Her kidou spells would work well in making sure they couldn't run anymore.

"**Hadou #4 Byakurai**" a bolt of lightning shot from her fingertip and struck the man she was aiming at in the back of the head burning a small hole straight through his skull and brain killing him instantly. The others stopped running to look at this sight for a split second and that second was all that Suijin needed. "Bakudou #1 Sai!" She called out her cold voice easily carrying over the distance between her and the men who had attacked Naruto. Those men felt a sudden power hit them pulling their arms behind their back and forcing them to their knees.

Suijin instantly changed her stance bringing both of her hands together and building up a large amount of spiritual energy in them. "**Bakudou #9 Horin**" An orange hued tendril with spiralling yellow patterns left her left hand and wrapped around the man who was furthest away. Another tendril erupted from her right hand and captured another of the assailants swinging them through the air until they collided with the other captured ninja. The tendrils merged together and looped around the both of them forming into rope like bonds. Suijin did the same process again and again until all six were captured and helpless in her binding kidou. She relaxed slightly walking forward to pull her blade out of the ground before approaching her captives who would have been screaming if she hadn't bound their voices with another binding spell.

She had placed her blade at the throat of her next victim when her spiritual senses screamed a warning and she ducked narrowly avoiding getting clobbered by a long and immensely powerful staff that was wielded by none other than the Sandaime Hokage. She vanished in the flicker of Shunpo (Flash Step which allows the user to move at incredible speeds over short distances and longer distances with practice) and reappeared a safe distance away glaring at the old man and the numerous Anbu guards that he had brought with him.

"What the hell do you want you old fool" she snarled at the sight of the useless old man that had strung Naruto along for years never helping stop the abuse that was heaped upon instead teaching him that the villagers were not at fault and that he should take the abuse and waste all his time trying to change their views about him instead. In doing so he had all but destroyed any self worth Naruto had by practically telling him that to be accepted he had to become the willing scapegoat of Konoha and sacrifice his life for them if he had to, he had to take every beating with a smile, never fight back because that would wrong. Never mind that the old mans ninja were torturing the boy first. Oh how Suijin hated the wizened old fool, no matter what his intentions might have been, the damage that might have been done to Naruto's psyche if she hadn't been able to comfort him were terrible. Now she had a chance to finally confront the old buzzard.

"Who are you and what is your purpose here?" The Sandaime demanded angrily as his summon Monkey King Enma returned to his original form growling menacingly at Suijin, she merely looked at the Lord of the Monkeys with indifference.

"I am known as Suijin and my purpose here" the indifferent look on her face melted away into one of fierce hatred "Is to kill the worthless cowards that are now cowering behind you and I am willing to go through you if it is necessary in order to do so."

"Then we are at an impasse" Sarutobi said in a steely voice "Because I will not allow any harm to come to a citizen of the leaf no matter what circumstances might have occurred."

Suijin snorted incredulously "Bullshit old man you've been allowing harm to come to a citizen of the leaf for years now and haven't done anything to stop it. Or does the name Naruto Uzumaki village scapegoat not ring a bell."

The denial that had been shaping in Sarutobi's throat died instantly and he nearly hung his head in shame. Of course he knew that he had failed terribly with Naruto, he had not been nearly as harsh as he should have been with punishments to those that persecuted the boy because he could not afford to lose any ninja especially after the Kyuubi's attack when their forces had been nearly cut in half.

"Perhaps his life has not been ideal" he admitted to the mystery woman in blue who looked at him incredulously "but sometimes it is necessary to sacrifice the comfort of a minority in order to protect the wellbeing of something larger. I could not punish the ones that persecute him because we need every ninja that we have otherwise Konoha might be attacked by another village and another war may start."

He looked stern but his eyes gave away the depth of his grief at the choices he had been forced to make. Unfortunately for him nobody noticed that Naruto had woken up and was now seething with the betrayal of his surrogate grandfather. Sarutobi had always told him that there was nothing he could do to stop the abuse and he had believed him, now he found out that not only had his would be grandfather known about the unfairness, the bias and the beatings but he had allowed it.

Rage filled the young boy as he thought about how the Hokage had told him not to fight back against the hate and instead take it and try to change their minds about him. Now he realised that he had been played by a champion who had been working on him ever since he was a child so that he would become a frenziedly loyal ninja who would die for whoever showed him the slightest kindness. His heart which he had once thought about giving to Konoha freely froze over and became cold towards Konoha and its people, he would not be played for a fool again. He heard Suijin snap back a scathing retort which ended with her claiming him as her son. He felt his heart warm slightly, yes he didn't need Konoha or their acceptance, he already had a family, one much more loyal than Konoha had ever been. He tried to get up but found that he while he was in no pain he was still too exhausted to move from all the energy he had used summoning and merging with Suijin's blade. He looked up at Suijin again and caught her eye for the briefest moment, she shook her head minutely indicating for him to stay down and watch. He showed his agreement by giving an equally minute wink and turning his head slightly so that he could see the escalading fight perfectly.

When Sarutobi had revealed that he had let Naruto suffer in order to keep Konoha strong Suijin had had to use every last ounce of her self control to stop herself from killing the old prune on the spot. It was while she was calming herself that she noticed that Naruto was awake and had been listening to what Sarutobi had been telling her about the reasons that he had ignored the abuse. She could feel his anger and rage at this betrayal easily through their bond so thinking quickly she snapped out a harsh response to Sarutobi.

"I see so you think it's alright to allow the torture of a child just to protect the torturers themselves you make me sick Sarutobi, especially at how weak you have become. What would the Shodaime and the Nindaime say if they could see their beloved village now? How it's leaders have become corrupt and look out only for themselves and how they allow the torture of children just to please the masses. No Sarutobi there can be no forgiveness for what you have done and I plan to see you pay for your crimes against my son."

She felt Naruto's happiness and gratitude through the bond and smiled slightly, every single one of the ninja's that were standing across from her were gaping at her shamelessly. Some looked surprised while others looked at her with hatred and one or two looked disbelieving. While they were all processing that bold statement she turned her head slightly and signalled to Naruto that he should stay down and let her do the talking. He agreed with a wink and she turned all of her attention back on the group of ninja's that had recovered from their temporary shock and were now slowly trying to surround her.

"You are not Naruto's mother" Sarutobi said firmly transforming Enma back into his staff form and preparing for a fight. This woman had attacked his ninja and had far to much interest in Naruto Uzumaki. He had to get rid of her for the good of Konoha. Only in the deepest darkest part of his soul did Sarutobi admit that another reason that he wanted the woman gone was because her accusations of his guilt and weakness were hitting far to close to the truth than he would care to admit.

"How can you possibly be sure about that Sarutobi" Suijin said sweetly.

"Because you are not Kushina Uzumaki" Sarutobi ground out angrily before realising that he had once again let his emotions get the better of him. 'Damn it' he swore mentally as Suijin smirked like a cart that got the canary.

"Well Sarutobi after you've told Naruto countless times that you have no idea who his parents are or if he has any family I find out now that only do you know his mothers name you sound very familiar and defensive about her meaning that you obviously have a deeper connection to her than just a Hokage and his subordinate. I wonder what else you've lied about."

Sarutobi had had enough, this woman was bringing up to many things that he wanted to remain buried and was also too good at winding him up and using his temper against him. "Anbu take her!" he yelled running forward himself the Anbu quickly following behind most of them making hand signs.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu" came the unanimous shout of at least 3 of the Anbu who released large balls of fire that shot towards Suijin while the other Anbu jumped out of the way and prepared an assault from a different angle if the woman survived.

However Suijin had already started moving before they had even started their attack, the chant she had been muttering under her breath was completed just as the Anbu released their fire attacks.

"**Chiyudo #69 Arrosez Miroiter" **She said with a smirk just as the fireballs came within 3 metres of her. A gleaming and crystal clear wall of water some two feet thick appeared in front of her encased in a barrier of kidou energy. The massive merged fireball struck the barrier of water with incredible speed and force evaporating instantly as it met Suijin's spell. Steam erupted from the collision shrouding the area in a white fog that clouded everyone's vision. The three Anbu that had been charging forwards stopped in fear of running into a trap.

From seemingly all around them Suijin's voice echoed as she ran through another chant. **"Lock on, take aim. Blue crush Arrosez Maison."**

Uneasy about what this chant might have caused while their vision was impaired the Sandaime quickly made some hand signs and blew away the steam with a wind jutsu. What he and the rest of his Anbu team saw was that the wall of water that the woman had created had quadrupled and surrounded the three Anbu on every side. The water within the barrier was hissing and steam rose from the top of the degrading barrier.

"What is this?" Sarutobi asked in awe, never in his entire life had he seen someone manipulate the elements in such a way so easily with mere words.

"Simple old man" Suijin said with an innocent smile "This spell creates a wall of water in front of me encased in a barrier that will withstand one attack. The barrier will use the attacks energy to superheat the water held within it to boiling temperatures. Then the barrier drops releasing a flood of this boiling water on my enemies. The second spell was an extension that duplicated my original wall four times boxing my enemies in so their can be no escape."

She looked behind her with feigned interest as the shimmering barrier started to vanish "I'd say that the barrier will drop in less than 5 seconds so if you have any last words I'd say them now."

Sarutobi lunged forwards at the blue haired woman but was forced to abandon his attack and leap away as the massive barrier collapsed releasing a tidal wave of scalding water on the three trapped Anbu and anything else that was on the ground close by.

Sarutobi waited until the water had stopped its surging path and started to soak into the ground, he created a layer of chakra around his feet to protect him from the heat and quickly rushed over to his fallen Anbu. They were still alive but were badly burnt and had knocked unconscious by the pain and the force of the water crashing down on them.

He ordered the remaining Anbu to take their injured comrades to the hospital before turning his attention to where the woman was standing only to find she was gone. He berated himself for his naivety in thinking that she would stick around while he was distracted, he thought back to his conversation with the woman remembering her fierce defence of the blond haired boy lying on the ground behind her.

Oh God he had totally forgotten about Naruto, when the boiling wave had struck he had been lying on the ground only a short distance away from where the wave had appeared from. He would have taken the full force of the deadly attack. He cursed the strange woman that had caused all of this destruction.

"Naruto!" he called out "Can you hear me? Are you all right?"

"Oh he's fine Sarutobi" a warm feminine voice said from behind him in an amused tone. "You didn't really think that I would allow any harm to come to him did you?"

"The thought had crossed my mind" Sarutobi spat out angrily turning to glare at the distant figure of Suijin standing on top of a nearby roof with Naruto laid gently at her feet, she was smiling coldly at him.

"Bring Naruto down here at once" Sarutobi demanded "Or you will face the full wrath of Konoha's forces."

Suijin smiled patronisingly "Old man I just took down three of your best without breaking a sweat and so far you haven't even come close to touching me even though you're supposed to be the strongest in this village. What do you think you can do to me if I choose to run?"

"Against you probably nothing" Sarutobi admitted with a serene smile "But could you defend both yourself and the boy at the same time I wonder." His smirk held the not so subtle message hidden behind his words. 'Choose to run and the hunters will go after you and the boy with the intent to kill would you risk his life?'

Suijin snarled and vanished before Sarutobi's startled eyes reappearing a split second later right in front of him with her sword against his throat.

"Threaten him again Sarutobi and you will die, then who will protect this pathetic village from enemy attack. Tell me, would you risk all their lives!"

Sarutobi gulped finally realising that this was an enemy that was totally beyond him and his abilities, if he had been in his prime then it would have been a different story but age had slowed him and eaten away at his endurance making him an easy target for someone that had the speed that this woman possessed.

"What do you want?" he asked her trying to talk around the blade that was kissing his throat.

"It's very simple Sarutobi" Suijin said sweetly "All I want is Naruto to be safe and happy, you will spread the word that he is not to be harmed or mistreated in any way. If he is attacked then I will appear and kill those that attacked him, if he is mistreated in anther way like being overcharged for goods then I will repay that treatment by turning this land into a dry wasteland by draining it dry of all the water it possesses or drenching you in constant monsoons which ever I feel like."

To back up her claims she pointed towards an area of the ground that had been untouched by her attack and was covered in green grass and rich earth. Before Sarutobi's very eyes water was leeched from the earth and the greenery gathering above the area in a growing sphere of water. The ground affected was already showing signs of dying. The previously green grass had turned brown and the single tree had turned old and twisted. The earth was cracking and turning hard as if it had been under a long and heavy drought.

Suijin carefully measured Sarutobi's expression as he watched her demonstration trying to tell whether he would listen to her demands or not. She had very little manifestation time left so she had to make her point and leave before Sarutobi figured out she couldn't stay in the real world for long periods of time or more reinforcements arrived.

To her relief she saw that Sarutobi had turned pale and was looking worried. "Tell them Sarutobi" she whispered in his ear "Warn them not to mess with Naruto because I will always be watching and there is no force on this earth that can stop me from exacting out my vengeance if I have need to do so."

And with that she removed her sword from Sarutobi's neck and vanished returning to Naruto's mindscape.

The Sandaime Hokage of Konoha looked around as soon as the blade left his throat but he could see no sign of her. He leapt up to the roof where Naruto was lying and hesitated as he moved to pick the boy up. His hand drifted slowly to the boy's throat as he pondered whether it would be safer for the leaf village if he were to die right here and now before the woman returned.

Before his hand came within a metre of Naruto's throat a water thread materialised and whipped around his hand preventing him from moving it. Another thread of water materialised next to his neck and sharpened until it was like a small knife.

Suijin's voice seemed to echo from all around him "I warned you Sarutobi I'm always watching do not test my patience any further than you already have."

Sarutobi stepped back suitably cowed and took Naruto up in his arms, he was so distracted by Suijin's warnings and abilities that he didn't notice Naruto stiffen as he picked him up or the small frown that crossed the young boy's face as he struggled to sort out the feelings of betrayal he now had towards his would have been grandfather. He could see now that Sarutobi had never cared about him as much as he had claimed to and even if he did his duty to the citizens of Konoha would always come first in his eyes. He came to a decision as Sarutobi dropped him off at his apartment, he would hold any feelings of malice towards Sarutobi but at the same time he would also not hold any feelings of warmth towards Sarutobi. From this point onwards he would be completely neutral towards anyone in Konoha judging them friend or foe simply from his interactions with them after this point. He would not kill innocents through want of revenge because that would make him no better than the monsters that tried to hurt him because they thought it would hurt Kyuubi as well.

A deep warm feeling came from within him and he felt a soft pull before he found himself in his mindscape again looking out upon the calm and warm sea. It was back to how it was when he had first come here nothing like the raging storm it had been when he had just left.

"It is because you are calm and at peace with yourself" Suijin said from behind him startling him slightly. He turned to meet her and she gave him a warm smile that was full of pride. "I am pleased that you chose the path that you did instead of the one of hate and revenge for what they did to you. Instead of falling to darkness and choosing the easy path you instead chose to take the high road and be neutral to anyone unproven until their actions make you decide whether to support them or oppose them."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head with embarrassment "Well I hadn't quite thought it through that much yet but yeah that's about the gist of it."

Suijin chuckled "Well whatever you decide to do you will need to be trained now. I have set the ball moving much faster than I had originally intended to with my threats to the Sandaime but I was left with very few options when he arrived sooner than I thought he would." She looked slightly guilty at this point but continued "I'm afraid I let my anger cloud my judgment slightly when I heard him trying to justify his actions towards you and gave off a lot more hostility than I had planned to at first. After I had attacked his Anbu I had no other choice but to issue that threat to him."

"I know and I understand Suijin" Naruto said sympathetically "It isn't wrong to care for something and try to defend it when that thing is threatened. If you had been treated that way then I don't think I would have been able to control my anger either."

Suijin looked unconvinced "Maybe but that is no excuse"

Naruto interrupted her "Forget it Suijin it happened lets move on. You mentioned something about training."

Suijin let out a large breath and seemed to relax "Thank you." She whispered before continuing in a louder voice "Okay thanks to my threat I'm sure that you will be left alone for a few days at least before people are confident enough that I am gone and you are defenceless. Then they will attack you again and I might be forced to intervene, if that happens then the council will use it as an excuse to try and either turn you into a weapon or kill you for the good of Konoha. If I keep interfering then you will get a lot of powerful enemies in Konoha. In order to make sure you are protected from these enemies you will have to be trained until you can defeat an Anbu and even hold your own with a Sannin if you have to."

"So where do we start?" Naruto asked.

"We'll start with the more basic skills like hand to hand fighting and speed techniques. After that we'll move onto kidou and Zanjutsu and when you are capable at both of these we will move onto controlling and using my abilities."

"Sounds good" Naruto said with a nod "So what do you want me to do?"

"You can learn kidou techniques in your mindscape but if you want to build up your muscle mass and density then you will have to train in the real world. As I will have to manifest in order to train you in the real world then we will have to time these training sessions carefully so you are not attacked when my energy is low and I can not manifest to protect you if I need to."

"Everything seems so complicated" the blond sighed, his brain was starting to hurt from the various conspiracy theories and worries that he now had to worry about.

Suijin smiled "Don't worry so much I'm a worrier and a planner so I always make things seem much more complicated and worse than they ever actually turn out to be. For now just let me worry about what the people in this village will be doing. You concentrate on learning this technique." She vanished in a blur and a low swishing sound reappearing almost instantly on the very other end of the beach.

In another blur she was back in the exact spot she had originally been in as if she had never moved "This move is called Shunpo or Flash Step, it allows the user to move long distances at great speed, a master of the art could make the journey from Konoha to Suna in just under 1 day which takes at the very least 3 days at maximum speed for ninja. This technique will give you a definite advantage over the average Shinobi."

"Sounds great" Naruto said with a grin "So how do you do it?"

Suijin smiled and instructed him on how to perform the legendary speed technique of the shinigami, the method was reasonably simple but it took a lot of time and work to properly master Shunpo completely. By the time Suijin told Naruto to stop and get some proper sleep he had learnt how to perform the technique but he could only move short distances and even doing that exhausted him. It was with great relief that he allowed Suijin to eject him from his mindscape and let him fall onto his soft bed and fall into a deep and peaceful sleep.

Sarutobi Hiruzen on the other hand was not feeling anywhere near peaceful, he had just finished with a council meeting where he had told them of Suijin's actions and the warnings she had given. The outcry that telling the clan heads and the civilian council members that was enormous and the number of them that called for Naruto's death was only slightly less than those that called for Suijin's and most of them had demanded that both the boy and his defender were killed.

It was only the wariness that they saw in Sarutobi's eyes and his statement that he could not come close to beating that woman and that anyone who tried was going to suffer a painful death that finally got some clans to see reason. He managed to waylay the civilians by telling them about Suijin's threat to destroy Konoha's food resources and with it their trade. It took a grand total of 4 hours for Sarutobi to convince the leaders of Konoha that it would be in their best interest to leave their scapegoat alone for the time being. Sarutobi knew it wouldn't last long but he hoped that it would be enough to give this guardian time to prepare for the storm that was approaching.

"I've bought you all the time that I could" he sighed as he sorted through some of the stacks of paperwork that cluttered his desk and caused him many sleepless nights.

"I know and thank you for that" a very familiar voice said from behind him making him nearly leap out of his robes with shock.

Behind him stood Suijin in all her glory, her blue hair and clothes seemed to shine and take on an ethereal glow when they were illuminated by the moonlight that streamed into the office from behind her.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 4- Apologies and New Beginnings

"Have you come here to finish what you started earlier?" Sarutobi asked wearily no longer having any will left in him to fight this unstoppable force of nature before him. Maybe she was a vassal of the gods come to punish Konoha for the sins they had committed against an innocent soul such as Naruto's. If that were the case then he would gladly take his punishment for the part he had played in the abuse Naruto had suffered. He didn't know how close he had actually come to the truth with that errant thought.

Suijin just looked amused but slightly guilty at the same time.

"No Sarutobi I am not here to fight you" she said with a small smile "I am actually here to apologise for the words I said before." The Hokage's jaw hit the ground at this revelation and he automatically lifted his hands into the air and performed a release for any genjutsu that might be affecting him.

"But why?" He asked disbelievingly "You were right I did let Naruto be abused in order to keep peace in Konoha and I did try to make him think that he should work to earn peoples trust and respect, even though he shouldn't have to."

Suijin raised her hand putting an end to his growing rant "I know Sarutobi and don't get me wrong the part of me that cares for Naruto like a mother will always hold some resentment to you for the choices you made about Naruto." She stopped as Sarutobi hung his head in shame before continuing in a kinder tone

"However I am also a fighter and a healer so I know that sometimes hard choices have to be made that help the many by giving up on a few. You had your back up against the wall and did the best you could under bad circumstances, that's all I could reasonably ask of you. You protected him from the worst of the abuse, gave him a home and money to live on and gave him hope and a dream the only way you could. You did all that you could while being in an important position that affects everybody in the village like the Hokage."

"I would like to believe you but my heart refuses to listen to my head when I remember what he looked like after some of the worse beatings."

"If that's true Sarutobi then that only reinforces my belief that you are a good man in a bad position." Suijin said gently trying to rekindle the will of fire that she knew had been dampened by the old buzzards that circled around him making his job that much harder. If Naruto was to be safe then she needed Sarutobi to be the man he had once been again. He needed to become the God of Shinobi once more.

"I'm tired of this job" Sarutobi groaned "I'm exhausted with the political scraps the stupid councilman and the concessions I have to make this unworthy village strong. Sometimes I feel that the whole thing is pointless and that the ideals that the First and Second Hokage passed down have been corrupted and forgotten."

"Then MAKE them remember!" Suijin growled having had enough of the pity party "You are the Sandaime of Konoha the God of Shinobi; make them remember, instead of playing the political game by their rules go by your own. If you know someone is corrupt then find evidence that they did something wrong and arrest them. You are the most well liked and well known figure in Konoha so use that to your advantage as well, instead of sitting in your office signing stacks of paperwork that your advisors set up to distract you hire a secretary to sort through it all get rid of the meaningless crap and only deal with the issues that the leader of the most powerful military force in the Elemental Nations should deal with. You say that the civilian council blocks your moves to help Naruto because you have no power over civilian matters correct?"

Sarutobi nodded his face nothing more than an expressionless mask.

"Then why are you spending all day and night signing papers that are nothing but civilian matters" she went to the stack that Sarutobi was about to work on and pulled out a few random sheets.

"This document is about the bakery across the street that is asking for help with a rat problem and this one is about the orphanage asking for a skylight." She turned to Sarutobi "Is this what you think a military leader should be doing? If the civilian council is so determined to isolate you from their affairs then make them deal with this work. Isolate them from you, see how far they get without your shinobi helping them anymore."

She threw the papers down on the Hokage's desk and stepped forward to look him straight in the eye "Where is the God of Shinobi that sent the enemy running when he entered their sights?" she demanded. "Through Naruto's history lessons I've heard of what you did in your prime, you've fought in 2 wars against greater numbers and more villages. What happened to that man?"

"He grew into an old man that felt too tired to fight for the things he believed in anymore."

"Well I think it's about time he made a comeback" Suijin stated calmly "After all, wouldn't you rather go over to the other side to where your predecessors wait with your head held high and your conscience clean than as an old broken man who watched and did nothing as a once great village collapsed around his head."

Silence filled the Hokage's office as Suijin finished her speech and waited for Sarutobi's choice, she really hated putting the poor old man through such a guilt trip at his age but he was the only person perhaps in the whole world that was on Naruto's side and she was willing to use any method she could to get him even the smallest bit of aid.

Finally after what seemed like hours the old Hokage's head rose up as his gaze left the floor and met Suijin's inquisitive gaze. She almost shuddered at the raw power that had risen behind those once kind and gentle eyes.

"You are right" he said shortly "If I let the village deteriorate any more than it already has then I would never be able to face those that gave their lives to protect it and the beliefs that go with it."

He turned away from Suijin and released the silencing seal that covered his office before calling for the Anbu that were stationed outside of the door. When they entered they immediately fell into a fighting stance and started to make hand signs to attack.

"Enough" Sarutobi snapped impatiently "Do you think that if she was a threat right now I would be standing with by back to her leaving myself wide open. She came here to ask me a question and now she has an answer she will leave." His eyes snapped to Suijin as if daring her to contradict him, she did not quickly vanishing in a swirl of water. Sarutobi turned back to his Anbu that had relaxed once Suijin had left but the one on the right was trembling with anger.

"What is it Anko?" He asked the Anbu on the right wanting to her to get over whatever was bothering her before he went into detail about the changes he wanted to make.

"Yugao is in the hospital because of her" Anko snapped angrily "What were you doing talking with her instead of fighting her." The other Anbu looked at her as if she was crazy and began to back away out of the line of fire.

"I'm going to stop you there Anko before you say something that will get you in trouble" The Hokage said coldly "You seem to have forgotten who you are talking to and the amount of power your demands have on me. I know you are upset about your friend getting injured but do not make demands of your commander and chief in his own office."

Anko gulped audibly and backed away submissively "I apologise Lord Hokage it will not happen again" she muttered looking at the ground.

The other Anbu cleared his throat nervously "Erm Lord Hokage while I wouldn't have put it quite as bluntly as Anko did could you please explain what that woman was doing talking to you when just a few hours ago you said she was to be avoided at all costs?"

"A change in perspective is all that changed now can we please drop this subject?"

"I'm sorry Lord Hokage" The Anbu said in a steely voice "But I cannot drop this subject until you give a reasonable explanation for your actions. For all we know that woman could have affected you in some way to bring down the leaf village from within."

"Since when did a military order become a debate" Sarutobi muttered irritably. "Fine if it will stop your doubts I will tell you. I was talking to her because she wanted to know why I who used to be called the God of Shinobi was letting civilians and council members rule me. Summed up she told me to get my act together and do what is right not what is easy, I agreed and chose to stop corrupt politicians walking all over me. This is where that all starts so would you stop questioning me and listen to what I say?"

"She still hurt Cat" the Anbu named Anko muttered rebelliously under her breath. The God of Shinobi turned to her with a frown.

"Anko I never thought I would have to lecture about being naive, we are ninja that means that in our line of work we could be fighting to kill someone one day then be allies the next day. Suijin fought my Anbu because I ordered them to attack recklessly the fault was mine not hers, I was foolish and chose not to see the obvious truth. That my own ninja's had attacked Naruto ignoring my laws and the Yondaime's last wish, Suijin killed them in defence of Naruto who she apparently see's as her son. That is not something I will fault her for because I would do the same for any of my family. I will hear no more about this and if I hear you have been making things difficult for the boy because of this vendetta I will not be pleased do you understand me?"

Anko bowed her head suitably cowed.

"Good now I want you to go and wake up the council members both shinobi and civilian and call them to the council chambers for a meeting in one hour. Tell them that if they are not there when I arrive then they can consider themselves dismissed from their positions. Got it?"

"Yes Lord Hokage" The two Anbu said before vanishing in a puff of smoke.

Sarutobi sat back in his chair and prepared himself mentally for the screaming contest that was to come. What he was about to do would rock the very foundations of Konoha's governing body and would make him more enemies in the civilian sector than he could probably afford.

A memory flashed through his mind of Naruto lying face down on the ground behind Suijin, his clothes were torn and ripped and blood stained the ground surrounding him showing that he had been bleeding severely before he had healed.

The aged shinobi's eyes flashed open with renewed determination, he would not allow children in his village to be put through that by the villages own shinobi. He would make the leaf village remember justice again no matter how much trouble it caused him.

He looked at the clock and began to make his way towards the council chambers ready for the battle to come.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 5 - Political Fights and a Rising Storm

The Council of Konoha was a political body that was used to having what they wanted with little or no resistance from the tired old kage they were supposed to be helping and advising. This left most of them with over inflated egos and a lack of common sense and subtleness.

This was proven true on one particular night when they were woken up by an Anbu who told them to convene at the Council Chambers for an emergency meeting immediately and if they did not turn up then they would lose their council seat. This infuriated some of the more pompous members of the civilian council and they planned to remind The Hokage of his place when they saw him again. A few threats to Uzumaki should do nicely to restrain him as it usually did.

With that thought in mind the council waited for the arrival of the Hokage all ready to voice their numerous complaints about being woken up at such a time and the lack of respect they were being given.

The doors to the chambers slammed open and the Hokage marched in and quickly took his seat, nodding curtly to the room as a whole he started to speak but was but off by the self elected head of the civilian council who started to speak in an oily slick tone that made people want to wash their ears out when they heard it.

"Lord Hokage I must protest at the time you have called us here as well as the threats to our positions made to get us here. You must have forgotten that we control all civilian matters and making an enemy of us could make things very difficult for certain parties that already find it difficult to buy necessities like food and drink. Why I would say that if our positions were put in jeopardy shop keepers that want revenge on certain parties might not be able to be restrained by us anymore. I'm sure you understand my meaning" he smirked arrogantly at the Hokage certain he would back down immediately.

"I think your meaning was quite clear" The tone of the normally kind spoken Hokage sent shivers of fear down the civilians spines and shivers of anticipation down the spines of the shinobi that had served under this Hokage during the last shinobi war. The self elected head of the civilian council gulped as the Hokage's hard eyes bored into his own with open disgust.

"I wonder" The Hokage said out loud "What is the current punishment for threatening someone under the Hokage's protection in front of numerous witnesses. Can anybody answer that?"

Shikaku Nara coughed slightly before answering "I believe it is treason which can carry the penalty of death if the Hokage thinks that the perpetrator is working against Konoha."

"Really" The Hokage said in mock surprise "Now I think that if certain shopkeepers make things difficult for certain parties I might just arrest them for treason and direct their customers towards the shops run by shinobi saying that they are more trustworthy."

"You can't do that" the civilian demanded angrily "You'll destroy our reputation and our businesses which will hurt Konoha. And you would do all this just to protect the Kyuubi brat and the bitch that has you scared as a URGH"

The civilian coughed out a clot of blood and stared in disbelief at the sword that was protruding from his stomach and the dog masked Anbu that was holding it.

"You were attacked by the demon's bitch why would you stand up for them" he stammered before he fell to the ground blood pouring from his wound.

The dog masked Anbu looked down at the corrupt man before in one fluid motion he wrenched his blade from the man's stomach allowing the blood to leave his body cleanly.

"It's called loyalty" he said disdainfully to the dying man "I am loyal to the Hokage and Konoha as all Anbu are, any vendetta's one might hold are forgotten when one don's one of these masks. Besides what you all try to do that child is disgusting and I hold no ill will to the woman who stood up for what was right and defended him no matter who was attacking. She could have easily killed all the Anbu that attacked her yesterday including me but instead she let us live. This shows me that she has morals and loyalty, two things that all Anbu hold in high esteem. The second you spat on these beliefs and opposed the Hokage you became a dangerous traitor and this is how we deal with traitors."

His piece said the Anbu melted back into the shadows taking the civilians dead body with him. The clan heads watched with stoic faces while the civilians looked on in terror at the casual killing of their leader.

"Yo YOU CAN'T DO THIS" a particularly loud council member with pink hair shrieked at the top of her lungs "You can't just kill a council member for no reason."

"Ah but I do have a reason" Sarutobi said "It is still an S class offence to talk about the events surrounding the Kyuubi's sealing and I think I'm going to start coming down harder on those that break or try to find the boundaries of that particular law."

"That only applies to those that didn't already know though Sir" Hiashi Hyuuga said respectfully in order not to draw the Hokage's ire anymore than he was already going to "All of us here know about the events that occurred that night."

The Hokage smiled innocently "Ah but it just so happens that I have a new Anbu on my guard that was too young to know the events that occurred that night. Due to the events that have happened in the last few hours I hadn't had the chance to inform him yet. That means that our friend here did break the law didn't he?"

A powerful glare infused with no small amount of killing intent was all that was needed to squash the even the pink haired harpies objections. The civilian council mentally decided unanimously to sit down and shut up for the remainder of the meeting. They were at a loss for how to deal with this new and stronger Hokage.

Seeing that the civilians had been silenced the clan heads looked at each other and all signalled for one of the others to speak up first. Finally with a sigh and a slight roll of his half shut eyes Shikaku Nara spoke up.

"Lord Hokage you implied earlier that the Uzumaki child was under the Hokage's protection. I was not aware that you had taken such actions and I must ask under what reason did you enact that law?"

The Hokage looked at the lazy clan leader sceptically "Do I really need to explain this to you of all people Shikaku. You the greatest tactical mind that Konoha has ever seen can't see why I would give the boy the Hokage's protection."

"Troublesome" Shikaku muttered "You have probably realised that the boy could be one of our villages strongest ninja's especially if he can control Kyuubi's power like other jinchuuriki's can. But if he keeps getting ostracized and attacked by the villagers and lower ranked shinobi then he will grow up hating Konoha and probably turn into a self fulfilling prophecy by becoming one of our most deadly and strongest enemies."

"Quite" The Hokage nodded "Letting the boy continue to grow up in that kind of environment would only tempt fate with our own destruction."

"I don't understand how a little bit of hate could cause this villages destruction Lord Hokage?" Tsume Inuzuka asked curiously.

"Well imagine this, you are Naruto Uzumaki, you have grown up in an orphanage where the people in charge have called you names. Treated you unfairly and even beaten you sometimes. Then before you are even 5 years old they throw you out into the streets to die. You have no idea why they treat you this way but you think that surely other people will like you. So you walk around town with a smile on your face saying hello to people as they pass. These people look at you with horror and disgust some of them spitting at you or simply punching you in the face and then kicking you on the ground. The people find that these beatings make them feel better so they get more and more regular and more and more brutal until most of the time the boy nearly always dies."

Here the Hokage looked around sharply quickly remembering all those that looked smug about these occurrences. He coughed once and smiled disarmingly before continuing.

"The Yondaime's seal only allows large amounts of Kyuubi's chakra to leak into the boy's body when he is in great need of healing because the Yondaime didn't want the child dead. He thought that it wouldn't hurt because the Kyuubi couldn't gain any control over Naruto's mind with a quick burst of healing. Unfortunately because Naruto was in need of healing nearly three times a week Kyuubi's chakra was starting to become an almost permanent part of Naruto's own chakra system. With such an amount of its own chakra saturating the boy's body the Kyuubi gained enough purchase to contact the boy. It told him how sad it was about how the villagers were treating him and how it had been the one healing him when he had been hurt. Naruto was naturally delighted to find someone who apparently liked him and didn't hate him, this being had actually helped him by healing his wounds so it couldn't be bad could it."

Every council member was white as a sheet and some were close to hyperventilating "Are you serious Sarutobi?" Inoichi asked faintly "How could he fall for such a trick?"

"Because he wasn't expecting it" the Hokage replied "He unlike us doesn't know about the Kyuubi, all he knew was that somebody had healed him all his life and was kind to him. You must have heard about this kind of devotion before, when a person has no family or friends they often latch onto the first person to show them kindness and would do anything not to lose that friend. Kyuubi said that it couldn't show itself to Naruto and help him more because it was trapped behind an evil barrier. All Naruto had to do was remove the tiny piece of paper with the word SEAL on it and Kyuubi could be his friend forever. Luckily Naruto was stabilized enough to be woken up and when he told me about his new friend I managed to convince him that he was being tricked and that he shouldn't trust the voice. He didn't want to believe me and eventually broke down in tears and ran off. When he finally resurfaced he told me that he wouldn't listen to the voice anymore and never spoke of it again. Now I recently found out that Suijin had found him and befriended him convincing him that the Kyuubi was an evil thing that couldn't be trusted. So in a way Suijin saved the village from Kyuubi's second coming that was almost brought about by the villager's unreasonable hatred."

He looked at the blond head of the Yamanaka clan "Does that answer your question Inoichi."

"Yes Lord Hokage" The clan leader said still looking shocked at how close they had all come to death because the villagers had helped the Kyuubi circumvent the Yondaime's seal.

The Hokage stood and addressed the entire council "We have actually covered more than I first intended to tonight so we will continue this tomorrow. For now I only wish to make one more point very clear.

Sarutobi released the full power of his killing intent and his chakra making him seem like a powerful god looming over the mere mortals before him.

"I have decided that I will no longer stand by and watch as this village which my sensei's created in the ideals of equality and fairness takes out its collective hatred on a young innocent child. If the Hokage's that have passed on could see what this village was doing they would be so disappointed especially the Yondaime who's last wish was for Naruto to be seen as a hero for his sacrifice."

Everybody was sufficiently subdued that no one made a comment about Naruto's unfortunate burden for fear of gracing the blade of one of the hidden Anbu that stood in the room's shadows.

"From now on anybody who attacks Naruto Uzumaki will find their lives forfeit in accordance with the law set down by the Shodaime Hokage that any ninja that attacks a civilian can be tried by the Hokage and the Shinobi Clan heads and can be executed if found guilty. I have just placed Naruto in the ninja academy so that means that any civilian that attacks him will be killed for attacking a shinobi of the leaf even if that shinobi is in training and is still technically a civilian. Do you all understand that from now on I will kill anyone who raises a hand against the boy?"

"Yes we understand Sarutobi" one of the Hokage's old teammate Homura said quietly "But may I ask a question?"

"Of course"

"Why have you become so loyal to _that_ child that you would turn against the village that you swore to protect with your life?" Homura spat losing his composure for a second. His anger drained away as the God of Shinobi's flinty eyes bore into his own.

"You would never understand Homura" Sarutobi said sadly before turning his back "But no matter what you think about me personally I am the Hokage and you will follow my orders." He turned his back on the council.

"The meeting is over we will reconvene tomorrow at 9:00am sharp to discuss certain changes that will be happening concerning the amount of paperwork I am getting on my desk which has nothing to do with military matters. If I have no power over civilian matters like you have told me then I don't think I should be spending all of my time doing the civilian councils paperwork should I?"

Every member of the civilian council went white as well as Homura and Koharu while small smiles appeared on the clan heads.

"You are all dismissed" the Hokage said with a nod of his head watching as they filed out of the room. It was a good start but he knew that things were going to get worse before they got better.

He made his way back to his office and sat down in his chair pulling out his crystal ball and focusing his chakra into it. The image of Naruto lying in bed appeared in its surface and then quickly zoomed out to show Naruto's house and every person that was close to that house. He relaxed slightly when he saw that there was currently nobody moving towards the house. He set an alert on the crystal ball to warn him if anybody entered Naruto's house during the night and then hesitated as he moved to put the ball away.

He channelled more chakra into the orb and started slightly as it showed the image of his own office from outside the rear window looking in at his back. He chuckled slightly and put the orb away turning around as he did so.

"Would you like to come and sit down rather than standing out there in the cold my lady" he said courteously to the empty air outside of his window. The window then opened and Suijin shimmered into view looking a little put out.

"I was hoping it wouldn't be able to detect me" she admitted when the Hokage gave her a questioning look which quickly turned into an amused one when she gave her reason.

"I wasn't sure it would be able to find you either" he said "Though I must admit that a part of me is not upset about that fact."

"I wouldn't expect anything less from the God of Shinobi" Suijin replied with a mock salute "Though perhaps I should rename you the God of Bullshit with all that crap you were spilling in there especially that ridiculous story about the Kyuubi nearly escaping because Naruto got depressed. If that were true then the fox would have been out and about years ago and you would all be dead."

The Hokage laughed "So you were there for that were you? It was just a little white lie to make people think a bit more before they try and attack Naruto again I hope you don't mind."

"Of course not" she laughed "But you should get some sleep instead of worrying over Naruto, I will watch over him from now on."

With that she vanished from the Hokage's office in a quick blur of movement, Sarutobi looked out of his open window at the village that lay below him and closed it in one quick movement. He released the privacy seals that he had put up around his office and flashed back to his own compound with a quick shushin.

When he arrived he found himself slightly out of breath and groaned at how far he had let himself fall out of shape.

"Tomorrow" he promised himself "I will start training properly again, a decent Hokage can't get tired after one shushin no matter how far it was."

Suijin watched as the Hokage left and made sure that he was truly at home asleep before she returned to his office like a creeping shadow. The genial smile that she had been wearing was gone replaced by a cold smirk as she took out the crystal ball that she had seen the Sandaime put away and waving her hand over it. A wisp of blue reiatsu left the ball and settled in her palm where it vanished assimilating itself into her core.

"Thought I didn't notice did you take a sample did you" she whispered towards the Sandaimes portrait "Goes to show that I was right in not trusting you, I'll play along for now and let you get the council of my back but only until he's strong enough to take care of himself outside these walls. Then we'll leave and the next time you see us will be when Konoha is falling around you by our hand."

She made her way over to the portrait of the Yondaime and lifted it slightly chanting softly under her breath before touching the wall behind the portrait leaving a softly glowing blue mark there. Smiling she replaced the portrait and left leaving no trace that she had ever been there.

The Sandaime slept unaware that his actions had been caught and that the person he had been spying on would now be spying on him from the one place that he would never think to check as surely nobody would dare desecrate the portrait of the legendary hero of the leaf village.

Meanwhile Naruto was lying in his apartment seemingly asleep, in reality he was inside his mindscape with Suijin who was instructing him in the art of kidou which Suijin told him was the most flexible ability a Shinigami had.

"With kidou you can stop entire armies in their tracks" she told him sternly when he said that he would rather learn how to control her powers first.

"But I would be able to stop loads of people with your powers to" Naruto complained "What you did to those Anbu was really cool. How you stopped their attacks with water and then dropped all that water on top of them."

Suijin smiled "Ah but I didn't do that with my abilities, that was a kidou spell known as **Arrosez Miroiter **and it can be learnt by anybody.

Naruto's eyes widened slightly as he remembered how powerful that one spell had been.

"Fine" he sighed "Teach me kidou then, but once I know a decent number of spells I want you to teach me how to use your abilities."

"Sure thing" Suijin agreed cheerfully "Let's get started then" she motioned for Naruto to make himself comfortable and cleared her throat.

"Kidou can be split into four areas Hadou arts which are primarily Attacking/Destructive spells, Bakudou arts which are primarily binding spells, Bougyoudo arts which are Support/Miscellaneous spells and Chiyudo which are primarily Healing and Defensive spells."

She turned around and pointed her finger at a nearby tree which was nearly 2 metres wide and 2 metres thick.

"**Hadou #4 Byakurai" **she intoned letting reiatsu build up at the tip of her finger before releasing it in a burst of white lightning which drilled a hole straight through the tree like a hot knife through butter.

"There are 99 spells in each category going from weakest to strongest number 1 being the weakest and 99 being the strongest. What you just saw was the power of the fourth weakest spell in existence and I think you will agree that it is impressive all by itself."

"Yes it is" Naruto agreed "But shouldn't I be learning spells that would help me run away if I get attacked by someone much stronger than I am. This spell is very useful but it doesn't help me if my opponent is faster than I am."

Suijin looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding her head slightly "You're right of course, I wanted to teach you the weaker spells first so you could work your way up to the stronger ones but it might be better if you just jumped in to the stronger spells immediately at least until the haters eventual outrage has died down."

She went on to go over the basics of Shunpo that they had started on earlier and taught him all the tricks she knew about the technique. This continued late into the night until Suijin insisted that he got some proper sleep in order to let his brain get some rest. When he awoke the next morning he slipped away early before he could get caught by anybody and entered an abandoned training field that was far enough away from the everyday goings on of the village that he wouldn't be discovered. He trained there all day until he became exhausted, then he returned to his apartment where he fell asleep immediately and Suijin would carefully watch over him in case of any attacks.

Meanwhile the Hokage had given the civilian council a firm dressing down and had hired trustworthy secretaries that dealt with the mass of paperwork that the civilian council sent over to him. Already there had been numerous discrepancies in various businesses and funds that dealt with large amounts of money brought to light and a lot of the more corrupt council members had already been caught and jailed for crimes against Konoha.

The Shinobi council and the Hokage's new political representatives were delighted at this and pounced on the corrupt businessmen's partners temporary weakness and quickly managed to revoke many of the biased laws that they had managed to pass while the Hokage was overwhelmed with the paperwork they had bombarded him with. It looked as if Konoha was starting the slow process of purging the corruption that had crept into its foundation.

While his staff was working on neutralising the more extreme members of Konoha's society the Sandaime found himself with hours and hours of free time. He used this free time to train and spend more time talking to the villagers and the shinobi under his command. While talking to these people he made many small comments about why he supported Naruto as well as the things that the corrupt politicians that they supported had done. Very very slowly the Sandaime was turning the neutral parties away from siding with the extreme haters that would never change their mind about Naruto.

It was six weeks before the newly found peace Naruto was enjoying was disturbed by another attack upon his person.

During the trip to his new training ground Naruto passed by a large forest that was surrounded on all sides by a tall wire fence that had warning signs attached to it at regular intervals. Suijin had taken a quick look inside of it when he had first seen it and had told him that it was filled with dangerous animals that were all at least ten times larger than their ordinary counterparts. She had told him firmly that under no circumstances was he to enter the forest until he had at least learned 10 spells from each kidou category and had mastered shunpo so he could escape if need be.

On this particular day while he was walking past the forest Naruto was practising the kidou spell that Suijin had taught him the previous day. It was called Beniikazuchi or Crimson Thunder and was the 2nd weakest Hadou spell in existence, it blasts out a beam of deep red lightning from the users finger that strikes the enemy and causes minimum amounts of damage. Its speciality is creating a loud noise when it is released that destroys the enemy's orientation and balance for a short time.

"Hadou #2 Beniikazuchi" the blond shouted pointing his finger at a nearby tree. A strong beam of red lightning shot from his outstretched finger and struck the tree blowing a chunk out of it and releasing a high pitched shockwave that made Naruto's ears ring from the impact.

"Good" Suijin said from within his mindscape "The power is impressive and the speed is good, the only thing you still need to work on is the strength of the sound wave that the spell creates. The current level of the noise would distract an enemy but wouldn't incapacitate them, to fix that you need to focus more reiatsu into the tip of the attack and the release it in a single burst when the spell hits."

"Sure thing" Naruto replied out loud "I'll try it at the training ground later when you are once again trying to kill me by training me to exhaustion."

Suijin chuckled before stopping and then suddenly appearing next to Naruto just in time to block a kunai that was aimed at his head. Naruto fell to the floor just in time to dodge a second projectile that turned out to be a fully opened Demon Wind Shuriken.

"Get out of here" Suijin told him through their mental connection "There are at least 30 of them surrounding us on 3 sides, I can't be sure that I can protect you if they all attack at once."

"The only way out is the forest" Naruto thought back "You told me not to go in there no matter what because it was too dangerous."

"It's safer than trying to protect you against the attack of 30 skilled enemies" Suijin practically shouted back "Now go!"

Kunai flew out of the bushes on all sides and multiplied over and over again until they blocked out the sky. Suijin pushed Naruto back onto the floor and stood over him quickly running through another incantation.

"**Poseidon's rage, leviathan's anger, lay waste to all that stands before me and wash away all sin until nothingness is reflected in your clear waters. Hadou #78 Torrential Wrath!"**

Water quickly gathered in the air forming into 4 large clumps that circled the pair of them like watchdogs. As the kunai came within 2 metres of Suijin the clumps exploded into 4 giant tornado whirlpools that quickly absorbed all the kunai and shredded them in seconds. They then collapsed in on themselves and fell to the floor leaving nothing left of them but massive puddles of water that soaked into the ground.

"GO!" Suijin shouted as ninja appeared from every tree and bush with swords and kunai drawn, they all wore similar clothing and blank white masks with the kanji for root on them. Naruto didn't hesitate any longer and ran for the forest vanishing in the swish of Shunpo just as a blade erupted from the earth where he had been standing just a second ago.

Suijin appeared above the blade and drove her sword into the ground next to the blade with a furious look on her normally calm face. The earth shifted and revealed the dead body of another masked ninja who had Suijin's blade stuck through his skull.

Most of the ninja surrounded Suijin while a few tried to follow Naruto into the forest but they were prevented by hundreds of thin water tentacles that flew from the puddles of water that were left from Suijin's earlier spell. They whipped around the ninja's necks and snapped them like twigs before releasing them and allowing their dead bodies to drop to the floor.

Suijin let her sword vanish and spread her arms out wide making the tentacles mimic her movements. Her eyes had lost all the warmth and humour that they usually held and had been replaced by the eyes of the living weapon that she partly was.

"I advise you to keep your attention on me" she warned "Or else you'll die all the sooner."

The root Anbu seemed to take her threat seriously as they stopped looking at the forest and focused all of their attention on Suijin.

Naruto raced through the forest alternating between jumping from branch to branch to short bursts of shunpo in order to throw off anybody who may be following him.

He had been running for over 30 minutes when he felt something come at him quickly from his right, he used shunpo to quickly move out of the way of the attack. As he reappeared he just had time to curse at the sight of the root Anbu that attacked him before another root Anbu struck him on the back of the head and he fell to the ground unconscious.

The second team of root Anbu picked up the body and one of them tried to place a tag on the back of the blond boy's neck when a blast of wind ripped the tag from his hands and knocked him off his feet.

The winds then gathered around Naruto and created a spinning barrier between Naruto and the Anbu. One cautiously threw a kunai at the barrier to test its strength and had to duck as the kunai was thrown back at him with incredible force.

"Unknown abilities being shown by the target" the head Anbu whispered into a throat mike "What are our orders?"

"Hold your position but do not attempt to attack the target" a gravelly voice came back through the mike. "If Suijin appears delay her by informing her about the information we have discovered about her connection with the boy, I will arrive momentarily."

"Understood" the Anbu chanted in unison stepping back from Naruto and standing rigidly at attention waiting for their leader too arrive.

A few seconds later Suijin arrived in the clearing looking pale and to the expert eye clearly tired. She hid the worst of her exhaustion from the Anbu and faced them fearlessly.

"Shall we get started then?" She asked starting to shift into a battle position.

"I think not" the same gravelly voice that had spoken to the root leader earlier came from the edge of the trees. An old man with bandages over one eye and one arm in a makeshift sling entered the clearing. "You have killed too many of my men already."

"I would apologise" Suijin said dryly "But I warned everyone what would happen if they attacked Naruto again."

"My men weren't going to attack the boy" The man said sharply "I just wanted to talk to you and the only way to do that is to approach the boy while looking menacing. Then you miraculously appear within seconds, very convenient huh."

Suijin's eyes narrowed at the hidden meaning behind the sarcasm in that last sentence.

"Well I arrived to find your men pointing weapons at Naruto and immediately had to block a hail of kunai. You have a strange way of try to talk to someone uhh."

"Danzo" the man supplied "Head of the Anbu root division and former war commander."

"I see" Suijin said slowly "And what do you want from me Danzo?"

Danzo smiled thinly "I want your support and allegiance in any endeavours that I think need your unique abilities. If you choose not to co-operate then I'm afraid that I will have to terminate you, a power such as yours is too dangerous to be left uncontrolled. If you do not serve Konoha then you might choose to one day aid Konoha's enemies, this is unacceptable."

"Just because I am not a part of Konoha does not automatically mean that I am a danger to it."

"I disagree; you have already killed over 40 members of Konoha including my men and have threatened many more including the leaders of Konoha themselves. I also believe that you told Sarutobi that you would turn Konoha into a barren wasteland if there were any more attacks against Uzumaki. If that does not make you a serious threat then I don't know what does."

Suijin grimaced it was looking unlikely that she would be able to talk her way out of this and the longer she spent trying too the less energy she would have to use when the fight eventually broke out. She had a quick glance at Naruto and noted that his spiritual energy was beginning to get rather worryingly low.

Danzo noticed her worried glance and laughed "Don't think about trying to fight your way out of this Suijin I know your weakness. Your energy levels are tied to the boy's the more energy you use the weaker both you and he become. Your very appearance seems to drain some of his energy making me believe that you are some kind of personal summon of the boy's. At the moment it doesn't matter, all that does matter is that you have been appearing regularly for weeks and using energy as well further weakening his reserves. Add the serious fight you just had with my Anbu and you must be feeling exhausted right now, the boy would be too if he were conscious."

"How could you possibly know about Naruto's energy levels?" Suijin asked choosing not to identify what the energy was and possibly give the already over informed man more information.

"It's quite easy with this" Danzo said peeling back the bandages that covered his left eye revealing a crimson eye with 3 tomoe surrounding the pupil.

"Sharingan!" Suijin hissed in shock "But I thought all the Uchiha were wiped out apart from one."

"That's true" Danzo said with a sinister smirk "But the dead Uchiha were generous enough to donate their eyes for me, for the good of Konoha of course."

"You twisted bastard" Suijin whispered appalled at the thought of plucking the eyes out of a corpse and placing them in your own head.

"The Sharingan can see chakra and while the energy you use isn't chakra it is similar enough that I can make out the levels that you and the boy have."

Suijin cursed and bit her lip looking worried, Danzo smirked as he saw how the ghostly blue energy that she used was drifting away from her into the air.

"You're loosing energy more rapidly than ever before" he said smugly "If I were you I would do the smart thing and surrender, if you try to fight us in your weakened condition then I think we both know what the outcome will be."

Suijin glanced at Naruto's prone body again and sighed heavily with one quick motion she threw her sword point first into the ground in front of Danzo.

"Fine you win" She said bitterly "Now what do you want from me?"

Danzo's smirk grew even larger "Oh nothing much the matter I was going to discuss with young Naruto here was the possibility of joining ROOT. After all it is well known that his goal and dream is to one day become Hokage of Konoha and joining an elite organisation like ROOT would certainly be the best way to go about achieving that dream."

"If you train all of the people in ROOT to act like those men there" Suijin said pointing towards the emotionless bodyguards "Then I can say with absolute certainty that Naruto will not stay with you."

"Oh but he doesn't have to" Danzo crowed victoriously signalling something to his Anbu "All I need is him to enter my fortress, once he does he will be completely helpless. I could kill him anytime I wanted to but I won't yet because I need him."

"Why?" Suijin asked with helpless curiosity "Why do you want him so badly?"

"It's not him that I want" the old man said "It's you, you have shown the power to defeat several of Konoha's best Anbu with ease. You were strong enough to frighten Sarutobi who is not known as the God of Shinobi for nothing. You have speed beyond anyone since the Yondaime and the abilities you demonstrated to Sarutobi when you threatened to turn this village into a desert were godlike. With you under my command Konoha will have no equal, even the other great nations will fall before Konoha's awesome power." He stopped ranting suddenly and took a deep calming breath before continuing in a much quieter but no less sinister tone of voice. "That's why I am risking so much by directly confronting you and the brat, he might make a decent ninja someday but you are the only reason I am doing this. As long as I have the boy in my power then you will obey every command I give you unless you want him to die."

"I think you forgetting something" Suijin said dryly "You don't have Naruto yet and now that I know exactly what you are planning I will be even more careful not to let you or your emotionless warriors within 100 ft of him."

Danzo frowned "I thought we already established that I had already won this game" he countered "Don't forget my eye can see your energy and I can see that you don't have much left, what little you do have is flooding out of you rapidly showing that you have lost control over your power."

Suijin smiled pityingly "You truly are a fool Danzo, I would have thought that a man who the Sandaime called his rival would have been smarter but you are blinded by pride and a false sense of patriotism. You think of yourself as important but all you are is a crippled old man who destroys and manipulates lives to increase your own power and standing because you can't do it yourself. You are weak, how you ever could have been the God of Shinobi's rival astonishes me, for you will always live in his shadow."

"ENOUGH" Danzo yelled face twisted with fury "I am more of a leader than that weak fool could ever be, his weakness will bring Konoha to its ruin as he allows other nations to walk all over us even though we are the strongest hidden village. We should be attacking Kirigakure while they are in the middle of their civil war instead we are sitting back and allowing all those bloodlines to be destroyed as well as letting them recover their strength."

"Now I can see why you were given the nickname war hawk" Suijin said with a sigh "You cause so much suffering and death to innocent and not so innocent people alike just so you can prove your superiority. What a wasted existence you lead, even I a weapon in human form have more humanity than you."

"You're wrong" Danzo disagreed "I'm doing this for the glory of Konoha."

"Lie" Suijin shot back "I can read you like an open book now Danzo, even if you achieved you goal and conquered the other nations making Konoha the ruling nation you wouldn't be satisfied. You would find another enemy another foe, anybody who would give you the fight that you need and crave."

Rage passed quickly over Danzo's face but it was quickly suppressed and he smiled.

"Very clever Suijin, as you know you can't beat me in combat you tried to make me angry enough to make a mistake or linger here too long. Neither will work on me, I have been mastering such manipulations for the last 30 years. You have quite the sharp tongue though, I think I shall add an extra feature to the seal I'm going to place on you one that prevents you from talking unless I command it." He gestured to his Anbu "Knock her out now and bring the boy along as well"

The Anbu started to move forwards some drawing swords others starting to make hand signs when suddenly more than half of them fell to the floor screaming as their arms literally exploded causing blood to fly everywhere. Suijin's arm was outstretched and she was breathing heavily however a smirk was on her face.

"Arrogance" she gloated "Arrogance became your downfall, the energy that you saw leaving my body was not a sign of me being weak but a technique that allows me to manipulate any water that is within my techniques range. This includes the water in the human body, I can literally kill you from the inside out."

She clenched her fist and a dozen more Anbu fell to the floor in agony clawing at their chests as Suijin attacked their internal organs.

Danzo leaped away quickly making hand signs and releasing the restraints on his right arm, just as Suijin turned her focus on him and destroyed the muscles within his limbs, a second after the attack hit he vanished and reappeared at the edge of the clearing completely unharmed.

Suijin did not understand what technique the man had used but she didn't bother sticking around to try and figure it out. Whatever escape technique that he had used had taken him out of range of her technique but had also taken him far enough away for her to escape with Naruto.

She flickered over to Naruto and picked him up, behind her she heard Danzo curse loudly as he realised that she was going to escape and he wasn't close enough to do anything to stop her.

As she took her gaze off Naruto to look at Danzo the roots of the tree that Naruto had been propped up against came to life and curled around her throwing her away from Naruto who was quickly bound by thick strips of wood while one thin strip curled around his neck.

Danzo's arm was knotted and wooden looking more like the trunk of a tree than that of a human being. He was pointing at the tree that had attacked Suijin with one hand while his wooden one was touching the ground.

"Enough" he said "Surrender or I'll snap his neck like a twig" to show he was serious he clenched his fist making the thick strips of wood constrict around Naruto who groaned in pain but still didn't awaken.

Suijin was out of options and she knew it "Fine" she sighed "I give up just let him go."

"I don't think so" Danzo sneered "You've proved that you're deadly at any range so I think I'll keep him like this until you're loyalty can be properly secured. And after that you won't even care what happens to him."

Suijin snarled "Try anything like that Danzo and not even the Shinigami himself will keep me from kiling you."

"Ah ah ah" Danzo said making the branches tighten again causing Naruto to moan in pain as a bone cracked. "You wouldn't want to do anything reckless now would you?"

Suijin calmed herself and stepped back "What do you want me to do?" She said defeated.

"For starters" Danzo said taking a tag out his pocket and throwing it at her "You will place this on the back of your neck."

Suijin slowly leaned down and picked up the tag studying it carefully before reaching slowly up to the back of her neck. Suddenly she stopped and an enormous grin flashed across her face before settling into a proud smile.

"I'm afraid Danzo I shall have to decline your so generous offer" she said sarcastically throwing the tag to the ground.

Danzo gaped lost for words "I'll kill the boy" he threatened clenching his fist tighter. However instead of the wood tightening around Naruto it expanded before exploding into pieces which showered down on the clearing.

Naruto staggered slightly as he stood up but apart from that he had never looked healthier, the few injuries he had picked up while the fighting had been going on had vanished and his eye's were glowing with pent up energy.

Another outline appeared in the dust which swirled around excitedly as of to announce the newcomers presence.

As soon as the outline appeared Suijin abandoned her position between Danzo and Naruto and flickered back to Naruto's side.

"I am so proud of you" she said warmly "I never would have imagined that you would be able to release her this soon after you released me but I am pleased that you were able to do so. Now we are finally complete."

"No problem" Naruto said with a grin which turned into a wince "Well actually it was kind of a problem, I had thought that your awakening challenge was tough. Realising that the swords were just decoys and your true power was in millions of pieces all around me. But her!" He gestured wildly at the dustcloud which now resembled a twister. "She's pure evil, her challenge was impossible and while I was trying to do it she kept on laughing at me." He stopped yelling and pouted while making puppy dog eyes making Suijin shudder slightly and quickly look away.

'So cute' she thought 'And I bet I know who taught him that little trick Kaz I am going to kill you when this is all over. How am I supposed to be the responsible adult and not indulge him when he does that!'

She managed to resist the puppy dog eyes and moved over to hug Naruto before collapsing to the ground. Before she hit the floor she was caught by Naruto who looked between her, the twister and the old cripple that had caused this entire mess. He made sure to give the man a glare promising a horrible death for what he had done to Suijin.

The twister changed direction heading straight for Danzo who was forced to substitute himself with a log to dodge the attack.

"Take Suijin away to a safe place and wait for me there" a muffled voice ordered over the howling winds and for a split second the figure inside the tornado was revealed as she met Naruto's worried eyes with equally worried ones of her own. Then the tornado closed and tore through the forest back towards Danzo blocking his view if the two. Naruto made sure he had a firm grip on Suijin's shoulders before using Shunpo to quickly reach the edge of the forest which was just far enough away from the newest battle zone. However even though they were miles away from the fight they were still buffeted by gale force winds that were coming off the twister that had now connected the land and the sky making a terrifying sight to those in Konoha who had probably never seen a natural force of this magnitude before.

"Surprised the Hokage hasn't shown up yet" Naruto muttered to himself glaring tiredly at the tornado "With the rate that she's going I'm likely to have the entire village out for my blood and even the old man can't stand against that much opposition."

"That's just her style" Suijin said raggedly from the floor all strength having left her as soon as her adrenaline high had ended when she knew Naruto was safe. "She flamboyant and could never stop showing off, bigger is always better in her book."

Naruto looked at her with relief "You're one to talk" he said with humour satisfied that although tired Suijin wasn't in any real danger "I believe that you showed off immensely when you first manifested. Quite a few threats were issued as well as quite unnecessary kido spells used to do a job that you could have done just as easily with your sword and shunpo. Let's not even get started on the tests that you guys gave me. You dumped me in an ocean and told me to find a sword that was quite literally all around me and she dumped me on a tiny ledge near the bottom of an enormous mountain before telling me to climb it. Don't tell me that she is the flamboyant one you're both as bad as each other."

Suijin chuckled weakly "So she made you climb the mountain huh" she said relieved that her voice was starting to become more normal "How did she con you into doing that?"

Naruto snorted "She didn't even bother trying to trick me, when I came to in my mindscape practically her first words were…"

_Flashback_

_Naruto awoke feeling cold and with a sharp pain in his back he groaned and rolled over pushing himself to his feet. His mouth dropped and he staggered backwards crashing into a solid stone surface right behind him. He looked around at where he was standing and gulped, he was standing on a small cliff edge that was at least 500 yards over the sea below him where there were a number of jagged rocks that rose up out of the water below him as if desperate to claim his life._

"_Where the hell am I?" He asked himself peering over the edge of his perch being very careful to keep the majority of his weight behind him so he wouldn't fall._

"_You mean you don't recognise this place then?" A soft lilting voice said from above him nearly causing him to lose his balance and fall. "Not totally unexpected but still rather disappointing I must say. I would get used to heights as well or you'll be much more likely to die when you climb up this thing."_

_Naruto recovered enough balance to look up and what he saw made him gape in shock. A girl around seventeen years old was sitting above him smirking at him, she was almost as pretty as Suijin Naruto realised almost immediately looking at her bright blue eyes and short spiky green hair. _

_But her otherworldly looks weren't what had made him gape in surprise, what had really shocked him was the position the girl was sitting in. Cross legged meditation style in thin air! She was literally sitting directly above him with nothing supporting her except the sea breezes._

"_What?" she asked in response to Naruto's amazed expression._

"_How are you doing that?" he blurted out waving his hands above his head as if searching for some invisible platform or support that he couldn't see._

"_What this?" she said motioning towards the air beneath her, Naruto nodded finally closing his open mouth "Anyone who can use reiatsu worth their salt can do this" she said dismissively "I just happen to be better at it than everyone else, surely Suijin demonstrated this technique to you." _

"_No" Naruto said frowning "Hey how do you know about Suijin and reiatsu."_

"_Not very quick on the update today are we" the girl teased "I would have thought it would be obvious who I am or at least what I am" she pointed out across the ocean that lay before them "Tell me what you sense when you look at the ocean."_

_Naruto rolled his eyes but did as she said stretching his senses out into the swirling tides, the answer hit him like Tsunade after she had been called old. "Suijin" he gasped "That's Suijin's ocean which would make you a Zanpakuto spirit."_

"_Yes" the girl said proudly "My name is …. and I am your second Zanpakuto."_

"_I couldn't hear your name." Naruto said regretfully._

"_Of course you couldn't" the girl waved away his regret "Your not far enough up the mountain to hear my voice and we haven't got the bind that you and Suijin had yet when you first met her. However we'll have to fix that quickly."_

"_What do you mean?" Naruto asked warily, the last time he had heard that type of talk from a Zanpakuto he had almost died and Suijin had been stabbed through the stomach._

"_Simply put" the girl said seriously "Everything in this world represents a part of your powers, the sea represents Suijin, the mountain represents your own power independent of Suijn's or my own."_

"_So what represents you?" Naruto asked "The forest?"_

_A shadow came over the girls face but it passed almost immediately and her face was so happy and teasing that he wondered if he had just imagined the dark look she had worn just moments before._

"_I'm not telling" she sang "That would give you a clue to my name and you would try to figure it out with logic which would be pointless, the name means nothing unless you hear me say it."_

"_So what do you want me to do?" Naruto asked looking around at his surroundings "Because I seem to be stuck in quite a difficult position. How did I get hear anyway?"_

"_I put you here" the girl admitted unabashedly "Because you have to climb this mountain before this part of the mountain erodes and collapses and you fall to your death so if I were you I would get climbing."_

"_This is my mind" Naruto said sceptically "Why would the mountain suddenly erode and even if I did fall and hit the rocks would I die inside my own head?"_

"_You don't have time to ponder things like that" the girl reminded him "This mountain is already being eroded by the sea and I assure you if you fall from here and hit the rocks you will die! Are you willing to risk not only your own life but Suijin's as well by not trusting me and climbing?"_

_Naruto glared at her but turned towards the cliff and started searching for handholds that he could use to pull himself up with. He managed to pull himself up using the shallow handholds he had managed to find and then started feeling around with his feet for footholds that he could use to take some of the weight off his arms._

"_You're doing it wrong" the girls voice came from directly next to his ear._

_He let out a startled yell and slipped falling back onto the ledge that he had started on and nearly slipped off that as well. He clambered back to safety and glared at the girl who was snickering._

"_What the hell did you do that for?" he demanded angrily "You told me to climb and I did what more do you want?"_

"_You were climbing the wrong way" the girl responded completely unfazed by his anger "If you had kept climbing like that eventually when you got higher up you would have fallen off and probably died which would be bad for me."_

"_And what exactly is the right way to climb then?" Naruto asked through gritted teeth thoroughly annoyed by the irritating girl_

"_You'll have to figure tat out for yourself" she told him "This is the last piece of advice I can give you, I can't interfere again." She vanished and a gust of wind swirled around where she had been making Naruto shiver._

"_At least it will be quieter" he muttered under his breath before turning back to the mountain face. He ran through every way he could think of that would allow him to climb the mountain but was different to simply trying to pull himself up. Finally he settled on what seemed to be the idea that would have the most chance of success. He would use kidou to try and blast larger and more stable handholds and footholds in the rock._

"_**Hadou #4 Byakurai" **__He said pointing his finger at the rock directly in front of him, a bright flash illuminated the mountain as a tightly controlled beam of white lightning tore a deep horizontal line in the mountain as a foothold. As soon as the blast finished the mountain rumbled and shook beneath him and some small rocks fell into the sea below._

_Naruto gulped as he looked at the rocks falling and the mountain shaking around him._

"_Looks like she was telling the truth about the mountain being a representation of my power and that it was eroding" he muttered nervously "looks like kidou is out, if I use any spiritual energy the mountain is going to collapse around me."_

_Using the new foothold he pushed himself up and started to climb again. After clearing the first bit that was very smooth with nothing much to hold onto he found the area above that much rockier with gaps holes and crevices that he could use to drag himself up. The going was exhausting and he thanked that gods a million times that he had trained himself from a young age to be a ninja and the latest training with Suijin had made him incredibly strong for someone his age especially with his already abnormal stamina._

_He managed to climb over 50 ft before he reached a huge overhanging ledge that he couldn't climb over or around. It was a smooth ledge that protruded from the mountain at least a metre and tilted upwards so to have even a chance of grabbing onto the edge of the ledge he would have to jump backwards and up at the same time. Even if he did manage to grab onto the ledge there would be nothing below him that he could use put his weight on. He would have to pull himself up using only his arms which he wasn't sure he could do, especially with the rising winds that were constantly whirling around the mountain trying to pry him off. No jumping was out of the question._

_However the only other option he had was to use kidou which was liable to cause even more instability in the mountain and perhaps cause an avalanche or even the whole thin got collapse which he was pretty sure would kill him and Suijin and the girl but that wasn't that much of a loss._

_He clung to the flat face of the mountain praying for someone to tell him what to do, he took a deep breath and rested his head on the mountain face trying to calm down. The last thing he needed was to become nervous enough to sweat which would make his temporary handholds to slippery to hold on to._

_When he rested the top of his head against the mountain and faced down he gasped in shock. The sea below him was stormy, stormier that it had been when he had been stabbed and dying. Waves larger than any he had seen before rose up and crashed into the base of the mountain eating away at the solid structure little by little. It was as if the water was trying to get somewhere quickly and the mountain was in the way, the answer struck him like Gamabunta falling on his head._

"_Suijin's trying to use her full power" he murmured mesmerized by the pounding waves "But she can't because she can only use her power through me and my body and power can't take it yet that's why the mountain is eroding." Then something even more important came to him "Suijin would know that so the only reason that she would be doing it is if she had no other choice. The people who attacked us must be better than the average enemy and if she can't use her more powerful kidou without killing us both then she might actually lose."_

_When that thought crossed his mind an image appeared in his mind, one of Suijin lying broken and bloodied on the forest floor quickly slipping away from life._

'_NO!' his mind rebelled along with his body, every part of his being rejected the image and what it represented. Without even thinking about it or considering the consequences of what he was about to do Naruto threw himself away from the mountain face desperately reaching for the ledge above his head. Only one thought was running through his mind as he jumped 'must reach the top to help Suijin'. For a split second he hung in mid air before gravity asserted itself and he started to fall._


End file.
